PHILADELPHIA�Under a pristine autumn sky, hundreds took to the streets with a renewed vigor Oct. 16 to protest Governor Tom Ridge�s signing of a death warrant for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The warrant set Dec. 2 for Mr. Jamal�s execution by lethal injection.

Mr. Abu-Jamal is on Pennsylvania�s death row after being convicted in the 1981 shooting death of a city police officer. His case has garnered worldwide support from death penalty opponents and anti-police brutality advocates. Supporters say the former Black Panther and journalist was targeted by police and didn�t receive a fair trial. Witnesses were made to lie by police and legal missteps were made during his initial trial, say Mr. Abu-Jamal�s supporters.

National leaders, including the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and local politicians, including Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Penn.), have called for a new trial.

Protesters came by plane, auto, bus and train�traveling from as far away as Berlin, Germany to make their voices heard. "Stop the Execution!" read signs held by protesters.

During the demonstration, Pam Africa, of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal, stood on the back of a flat bed truck that took the protest into city neighborhoods. "We must educate people about the facts of the case," she declared.

"Justice can only be served through a new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal," said Congressman Fattah and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), speaking on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus.

"Testimony of eyewitnesses was suppressed, a witness was bribed to testify against Abu-Jamal, ballistics evidence did not match the circumstances of the case, there was no physical evidence linking Abu-Jamal to the crime, and test which could have proved his guilt or innocents were not ordered," Rep. Fatah continued. "The only thing we know for sure is that he has not been given due process and that alone is enough for a new trial." The Black Caucus issued a statement Oct. 13 calling for a new trial.

"This is the 171st death warrant signed by Governor Ridge since 1994�five times the number signed by his predecessor. One of the system�s infirmities, acknowledged by the bar association, has to do with racial prejudice. While nine percent of Pennsylvania�s total population is African American, the percentage on death row is 62 percent. This is the largest disparity of any state in the United States," said C. Clark Kissinger, of Refuse and Resist.

Mr. Kissinger added that a 1998 found a young Black male growing up in Philadelphia is 11.5 times more likely to end up on death row than in Georgia or Alabama.

This is the second death warrant signed for Mr. Abu-Jamal, the previous warrant was stayed.

He also argued that not only is Mr. Abu-Jamal innocent, but there are other troubling issues. Mr. Abu-Jamal�s initial trial attorney admits he interviewed no witnesses, conducted no investigation and 11 Black jurors were removed on the basis of race, Mr. Kissinger said. In addition, he added, prosecutors wrongly used Mr. Abu-Jamal�s political statements, made as a teenage member of the Black Panther Party, at his trial.