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The Bangladesh Association of New England and other groups led the protest to denounce police brutality and call out officers for not seeking less lethal means to deal with the young man.
A Cambridge officer shot Faisal a little after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 4., after he jumped through a window in the Cambridgeport area and began cutting himself with broken glass and a large kukri knife, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a press conference last week. After a several-block foot chase, a Cambridge officer shot and killed Faisal after a "sponge round" failed to stop him from advancing on officers with the knife, Ryan said, citing a preliminary investigation.
Ryan has not said if the officers were wearing body cameras at the time of the shooting. Emails to her office seeking clarification were not returned.
Protesters said that police should have done more to avoid violence. They say Faisal had a bright future and did not have to die on the cold pavement of Chestnut Street.
Tanvir Murad, general secretary of the BANE, said the officer's bullets did more than kill Faisal, they also ended the dreams of his parents and his community. He told protestors gathered Monday to ensure that Cambridge leaders do a thorough and just investigation into the incident.
"How did this happen?" he challenged leaders to find out. "Why couldn't we save one of our brightest kids?"
Fatema Ahmad, Executive Director Muslim Justice League, also joined the protest because she said it was important for groups to band together to fight injustice.
"Every day, we have to show up for each other," she said. "We have to create the care, and the love, and support for one another because they won't do it. ... This city with all of its money and its universities, and you want to tell me this is how they respond to our young people?"
She said protestors must speak up to hold leaders accountable and answer for what they feel is an injustice and police brutality.
"You tell them Fatema said we are not going to be quiet about this," she said. "That is not what we do when someone is taken from us."
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