Hundreds gathered outside Phoenix City Hall Saturday afternoon to decry the deaths of Dion Johnson and Breonna Taylor, calling “to abolish the system that killed them.”

“Our demands are specific,” said Michael Alexander, an organizer with Black Phoenix Organizing Collective, one of the groups organizing Saturday’s march. 

In addition to abolishing the police entirely, organizers called for a variety of measures including the firing of police who have killed people, independent investigations of police misconduct, releasing unredacted body camera footage of shootings and dropping charges against those arrested in connection with past demonstrations against police brutality.

“The only true way to stop police violence is to end policing. Period,” one speaker said. 

They also called for the immediate firing of Department of Public Safety Trooper George Cervantes, who shot and killed 28-year-old Phoenix man Dion Johnson on May 25. 

Alexander said the coalition of organizations included Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro, Mass Liberation, Puente Human Rights Movement and several others gathered with community members including the family of Johnson to discuss changes they want to see made to Phoenix police.

Johnson, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a Department of Public Safety trooper in May. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office determined last month that the trooper would not face any criminal charges in connection with Johnson’s death.

“A lot of community members don’t feel safe. And we will continue to organize and build coalition … so that we can demand to dismantle these white supremacist systems and create something that actually helps us all to thrive together,” Alexander said. 

Demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Phoenix, clad in masks and carrying signs, as police stood by. They told protesters to stay on the sidewalk.

They reached Phoenix police headquarters shortly after 5 p.m.

One group of four protesters chained themselves to a black wooden box representing a coffin. It was decorated with flowers and pictures of Hector Lopez, James Garcia, Ryan Whitaker and other men shot and killed by police in recent months. They pledged not to leave until they were arrested.

They held a sign that read, “Stop the murderers. Defund the police.”

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or on Twitter @Mkayackley.

Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2020/10/03/protesters-march-city-hall-honor-dion-johnson-breonna-taylor/3609302001/