San Francisco, May 15 (RHC)-- In the U.S., more than 80 cars drove around San Quentin prison in Marin County, California to demand protection from COVID-19 for prisoners.  Some 2.3 million incarcerated people, including many elderly people, are at risk of contracting the virus.

The “No State Execution by COVID-19” car caravan was organized by the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Supporters included the Party for Socialism and Liberation, CODEPINK, Love Not Blood Foundation, Oscar Grant Committee, Democratic Socialists of America, California Prison Focus and Freedom Socialist Party among others.

Cars drove around the prison as activists organized a press conference at the West Gate of San Quentin, maintaining physical distancing guidelines.

Gloria La Riva, presidential candidate of the PSL, spoke of the need to free Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Julian Assange, and all of the hundreds of thousands who should be freed immediately.

“So many have been wrongly convicted, those who are convicted for being poor, for being Black and Latino,” said La Riva.  “Leonard Peltier is one of the longest-held political prisoners.  And he is innocent of the charges that he was thrown into prison for, because he represented along with the American Indian Movement, a radical Native American movement in the United States, that was standing up to the power of capital in the U.S.”