At the protest rally in Manhattan, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others addressed a peaceful crowd. It was the second time in three days that a large crowd had turned out to condemn the shooting. "If they can shoot anyone 41 times, they can shoot everyone 41 times," Sharpton said. "It may start with blacks and Latinos, but it will spread everywhere."

Many protesters took the day off from work to attend the rally. Some, like Diallo, were African immigrants.

"If they let the cops get away with this, they're going to do this to someone else," said Laoura Balde, 29, also a native of Guinea.

"I don't know him, but we came from the same country and shared the same dream," said Binta Diallo, 26, a cab driver who is not related to the victim.

The crowd repeatedly chanted, "No justice, no peace," and some carried signs accusing Mayor Giuliani of tolerating police brutality.

As the speeches filled the air near City Hall, a City Council member criticized the mayor for appearing to say at a press briefing that blacks are not disproportionately the victims of police shootings.

"It's gobbledegook that masks an unwillingness to face the truth about the racism that is evident in these violent incidents," said Councilman Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan).

Perkins said Giuliani was suggesting that "it's okay because there's no imbalance, that this is fair." The responsible answer, Perkins said, would have been, "We will have to root out the problem."

Many in yesterday's crowd of protesters grasped for the right words to express their grief, and for Diallo's aunt, like his mother, the words were personal.

"This boy was a little boy," said Binta Boiro, "he never did anything bad in his life."