By Joanna Kaplan

Last week a local high school teacher stood on a busy corner in downtown San Francisco and told the crowd that had gathered in front of him about the police brutality his students reportedly suffer on their way to his class.

"It has been ridiculous," said James Tracy. "All the time, my kids are messed with by the cops. Basically, it's OK for white folks to congregate outside of a bar or stand around on a street corner. But if my kids were to do it, they'd be taken down to 850 Bryant (the San Francisco Police Department jail) in six seconds flat."

The crowd had gathered at Powell and Market to mark the first annual International Day Against Police Brutality. In the wake of the recent Amadou Diallo trial in New York, angry citizens from communities across the nation have staged protests against the verdict that cleared four police officers of Diallo's murder.

"Why are we letting them do this?" said one speaker. "Everywhere that cops are, there is violence. We don't need anymore Amadou Diallos."

Uniformed police officers stood by listening and watching as the protesters waved their wallets in the air to symbolize the item reportedly mistaken for a gun by the New York police officers who shot and killed Diallo. Passersby paused to glance at the disruption, and cars honked their horns in support as they sped by the high flying banners.

"A lot of these people are cop-haters," said SF police officer Terry Gan. "One day one of them will become a victim. All victims love cops. We live by a double edged sword."

In 1998, there were a total of 1,289 complaints filed against SF police officers, according to the Office of Citizen Complaints. Of those, 67 percent were filed by minorities. The number of the "unnecessary force" cases was just more than 300, and only nine were closed as sustained complaints.

"I am totally against police brutality," said Gan. "But, brutality in itself is subjective. I treat people the way I like to be treated. Though it is very, very rare, there are always bad elements in every profession. You can't just single out a whole profession."