A representative of the African American Freedom and Reconstruction League addresses the crowd at a recent rally on the steps outside of District Attorney Lynne Abraham�s office. �The firing of four police officers did not go far enough because there were 19 perpetrators � four does not add up to 19 ... Nine of the 19 officers have been put back on the street. � �Paula Peoples National Action Network, Philadelphia chapter

Activists want all 19 officers involved in the brutal May 5 beating of three Black men fired or disciplined and they want District Atty. Lynn. Abraham to ensure that the three Black men who were assaulted get a fair trial.

Protestors have drawn attention to the fact that Philadelphia police have changed their version of the events leading up to the beating. Initially it was said that an undercover narcotics officer witnessed the shooter running away from the scene on foot as three other suspects got in a car and fled. In the latest version of the events, there was no fourth person and the shooter was actually one of the three men, Pete Hopkins Jr.

Legal advisors for the three men challenged the details of the event as delivered by political and law enforcement officials.

“They are asking us to believe that a highly trained narcotics officer skilled in surveillance operations was at the scene, watched the car pull up, saw three people instead of four and, because he is so well trained in surveillance, he knows that Mr. Hopkins was the shooter. And by the way, this officer forgot to tell us about this for nine days,” said D. Scott Perrine, the lawyer for suspect Pete Hopkins, Jr.

“The surveillance officers were there that night and made the report that was used by Ramsey, the district attorney and the bail commissioner. Ramsey is changing the details … If the narcotics officer had identified Mr. Hopkins as the shooter it would have been in the PARS report. If you buy Ramsey’s latest story, he either withheld information from the public that this fourth person—the gunman—really didn’t exist and wasn’t running the streets of North Philly, or a narcotics officer who was an eyewitness stepped forward nine days later and miraculously remembered that Mr. Hopkins was the shooter.”

Paula Peoples, of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Action Network, was not satisfied with initial disciplinary action taken by police.

“The firing of four police officers did not go far enough because there were 19 perpetrators … four does not add up to 19,” said Ms. Peoples. “Nine of the 19 officers have been put back on the street.”

Shirley Hopkins, the mother of Pete Hopkins Jr., one of the three Black men in the videotaped beating by Philadelphia police speaks to protestors.

The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police vowed to fight Commissioner Ramsey’s “rush to judgment” in the disciplinary action directed at the officers. The FOP also said the city was sending mixed signals to police officers by asking them to take more aggressive action to reduce violent crime, but not accepting the repercussions.

The city’s Muhammad Mosque No. 12 held a community meeting billed as “Police Brutality-Mob Attacks with a Badge” that included representatives from the family of the victims and a host of community activists.

Attorney Robert X Miller, of the Philadelphia Millions More Movement Ministry of Justice, said, “Police policies (have) helped cause the criminalization of us as a people and the lack of appropriate disciplinary action within the police department has encouraged police brutality.”

The attorney said the Millions More Movement Ministry of Justice will be taking complaints from citizens ill affected by police and establish links with the Barrister’s Association in Philadelphia, the Black police association as well as city and federal politicians who have stood against police brutality.

Pete Hopkins, Sr., delivered a sobering message, pointing out an inconsistent distribution of justice with the men who were beaten incarcerated on weak evidence, while police officers caught on tape are still walking the streets.

The mother of Pete Hopkins Jr., 19, expressed thanks for community support that has shown “we are not alone. My son is suffering nightmares and he can’t sleep. He is suffering contusions and bruises to the ribs,” said Shirley Hopkins.

Rodney Muhammad, Mosque No. 12 student minister, likened the changing stories to a spider that “builds a web of lies.” “When you look at the web of lies that are wrapped around this issue, its coming from inside,” said Mr. Muhammad. “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that you cannot have a lie without a liar, so we have to go after the spider.”

More controversy hit the department May 27 when two officers were charged with assault and falsifying records in connection with the alleged cover-up in the beating of a graffiti artist. David Venitsky said he suffered a broken and dislocated jaw, bruised ribs and lost teeth because of the beating by the officers.