Many of the marchers carried signs calling for the abolition of the death penalty. Members of the National Campaign Against the Death Penalty circulated a petition calling on the U.S. government to impose a moratorium on death sentences. Some carried signs demanding justice for other prisoners who have been framed up and victimized by the police and the courts.

One group that attracted attention at the protest was three members of International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422 from Charleston, South Carolina. They had been involved in a successful struggle to prevent a shipping company from using nonunion labor on the Charleston docks. Following a cop assault in January, several ILA members were arrested and face trumped-up charges.

ILA member Charles Brave Jr. explained that they had been invited to Oakland to attend a meeting at Service Employees International Union Local 250 headquarters called "Labor for Mumia," attended by 100 labor officials and members.

At the rally at the Civic Center, ILA Local 1422 president Kenneth Riley spoke about their fight and how the union had joined the march in Columbia, South Carolina, to bring down the Confederate battle flag that has been flying over the state capitol. He pledged support for Abu-Jamal. The ILA members also circulated a leaflet asking for support to the Dockworkers Defense Fund, which has been established to aid the framed-up workers, and said they would return to this area in June.

Speakers at the rally projected an August 13 demonstration at the Democratic Party national convention in Los Angeles. The Freedom for Mumia Coalition plans to protest Vice president Albert Gore's failure to support freedom for Abu-Jamal and denounce Edward Rendell, national chairman of the Democratic Party, who is from Philadelphia and was the prosecutor in the original case in which Abu-Jamal was convicted.  
 
 
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