Veteran, parents of Tamir Rice, Jacob Blake Jr. speak at Jayland Walker protest Saturday in Akron

About 100 people gathered in front of the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center in downtown Akron on Saturday to protest the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker.

The protest, which began at 2 p.m., was organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation's Northeast Ohio Branch.

Various speakers addressed the crowd in front of the Summit County Courthouse, including:

• Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice, 12, who was shot and killed in 2014 by a Cleveland police officer.

• Jacob Blake Sr., father of Jacob Blake Jr., 29, who was shot in the back seven times by an officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020 and partially paralyzed.

• Dee McCall, a military veteran who served for 11 years. McCall is now the community organizer for The Freedom BLOC, a local organization that aims to build Black political power and "to equip the Black community with capacity-building tools on civic education, civic engagement, campaign management and leadership development."

"We continue to say Black Lives Matter, yet we continue to protest," McCall said. "This is literally in every city, replicated across the nation. This is the un-United States."

The Party for Socialism and Liberation's spokesperson, Riley Petro, said that city officials' call to deescalate the Jayland Walker protests Friday was a cynical move.

The plea from Mayor Dan Horrigan, Police Chief Steve Mylett and local pastors came after the deaths of Journei Tolbert, 4, and Johnny L. Gaiter, 40, who were shot at a family celebration Friday evening.

Police, who said they had no suspects as of Saturday and no updates Sunday, said the deaths were not related to the protests.

Later, Walker's cousin Demetrius Travis Sr. said 4-year-old Journei had been the niece of Jaymeisha Beasley, Walker's fiancee who died in a car accident about a month before Walker's death.

"Obviously the death of somebody so young is a tragedy, and I just feel it's awful that city officials would exploit that to try and tamper down on people's freedom of speech," Petro said. "The Akron police have been doing as much as they can to tamper down on protests up to this point with curfews and arresting people who have not really violated any laws."

One of the protesters in the audience was Alexis Jerels, who lives on Princeton Street, where Friday's shooting took place. Her daughter was Journei's playmate.

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In a news release responding to the criticism of how officers are handling demonstrators, Mylett said: "We have received death threats with officers’ information being posted. We’ve gotten news from the FBI about violent extremists coming to our city and posing as resident demonstrators in order to perpetuate violence.

"These are not excuses, but the reality of what our Akron police officers and our community are currently facing. We understand that APD has an extremely important part to play in creating, maintaining, and promoting peace in our city, in addition to their top priority of protecting public safety. We are committed to those goals and to de-escalating the high tensions that exist."

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Walker's cousin Travis was also at the protest.

"Akron was previously, at least recently, known for great things LeBron James did but now it's marred by, in my estimation, the execution of my cousin," he said. "This is a very devastating story."

After speeches the group marched up University Avenue to Union Park, where more speakers were waiting to address the crowd.

Police said Sunday there had been no known protest-related arrests overnight.

Contact Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans at tbeans@gannett.com and Twitter @TawneyBeans.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Samaria Rice, Jacob Blake Sr. speak at Jayland Walker protest Saturday