There has been an increase in cop harassment of people since September 11, and the "police are going around kicking some people's doors in," Jamal said. "And now this: just shooting them and killing them just like Mogadishu and civil war. This isn't what we expect."

Jamal and others held the conference, which was attended by 50 people, to protest the killing by Minneapolis police of Jeilani, a Somali immigrant with a history of mental illness. The killing had occurred the previous day, when police shot numerous bullets into Jeilani. They later said they believed he was charging them. Witnesses say the man had been walking down the street carrying a machete and a crowbar.

Word of the brutal assault spread quickly throughout the Somali community, and 40 people gathered at the scene of the shooting, demanding answers from the cops.

"He was mentally ill," Jeilani's brother, Alawi, told the press conference. "He wasn't doing anything."

Amal Yusuf, the executive director of the Somalian Women's Association, said, "I see this as an overutilization of police power. This is police brutality. It was a long knife that he was holding his hand. They could have used Mace."

Witness to the shooting Dendell Holley said, "It seemed like they just unloaded their guns on him."

One young immigrant from Somalia who stepped out of work to join the Monday morning protest told the Militant that he thinks the shooting was a message to the Somali community.

Earlier incidents involving Somalis include the death on October 22 of 66-year-old Ali W. Ali, who was injured while waiting for a bus. Police ignored witnesses who said that a large white man had punched Ali in the face.

On November 7 the FBI raided several money transfer businesses serving the Somali community in the area, cutting off their ability to send money to relatives in Somalia. The government says that 10 of the 40 Somalis deported nationally by the Immigration and Naturalization Service are from Minnesota.

The Somali Justice Advocacy Center has called a march in Minneapolis for March 23 beginning at 1:00 p.m. to demand justice for Abu Jeilani, the prosecution of the cops who killed him, and the removal of the police chief.  
 
 
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