Marchers in SF protest cop killing of Mario Woods

Militant/Carole Lesnick

SAN FRANCISCO — Hundreds of protesters marched through downtown here Jan. 30 demanding “Justice for Mario Woods,” a 26-year-old Black man shot and killed by city police Dec. 2. Five cops — Winson Soto, Antonio Santos, Charles August, Nicholas Cuevas and Scott Phillips — surrounded Woods, who had been reported to cops as looking like a person involved in an earlier stabbing, and then shot him more than 15 times.

Woods family attorney John Burris made public a video of the killing.

Protesters carried signs reading, “Mario is our son” and “Fire Chief Suhr.” Greg Suhr is head of the city police.

Police gripping batons blocked marchers from approaching Super Bowl City, a fan village for the upcoming NFL championship football game.

A hundred protesters eluded the cordon and set up a vigil inside the fenced-off area. This is “an important message for the world to see,” Rhiannon Samson, who had come to visit Super Bowl City, told the San Francisco Gate.

— CAROLE LESNICK