Hundreds of mourners on Saturday streamed peacefully past acoffin bearing the body of a young black man shot to death a week ago by a white policeman inan incident that sparked a week of racial violence.
Conspicuous by their absence at the solemn scene were any uniformed police to assist incrowd control at the New Prospect Baptist Church in the largely black neighborhood just a shortdistance from the alley where Officer Steve Roach killed 19-year-old Timothy Thomas.
Thomas, who was unarmed but running from the policeman, became the 15th young black crimesuspect to be killed by Cincinnati police since 1995 and the fourth since November. Roach hassaid he thought Thomas was reaching for a weapon.
Police Chief Thomas Streicher announced on Saturday morning that there would be no policepresence near the church during the two-hour visitation and 1:30 p.m. EDT funeral service.
In place of the police, staff members of the city's Human Relations Commission and members ofthe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People circulated among the gatheringcrowd as a calming influence.
They reported a great deal of bitter resentment toward police, especially among the youngerpeople in the queue that wound around the outside of the large church.
"They want to vent their anger and we're here to channel that anger in the right directions," saidCecil Thomas, director of the Human Relations Commission and former president of the CincinnatiSentinels black police officers association.
Thomas, no relation to the victim, said city officials felt it essential to find out what the youngblacks were thinking.
While uniformed police were nowhere to be seen near the church, they were in the general areain large numbers, augmented by 125 state troopers and some sheriff's deputies, in case anyviolence erupted.
Streicher had said on Friday that police considered the aftermath of the funeral a crucial time fordetermining whether the city was likely to return to peace and order anytime soon.
Meanwhile, city officials announced late on Saturday morning that the 8 p.m.-till-6 a.m. curfewwould remain in effect for a third night on the eve of Easter Sunday.
Religious leaders had been warned when the city declared a state of emergency on Thursdaythat they might have to cancel Easter sunrise vigils because no one is allowed on the streetsduring the curfew, except to go to and from work or for medical emergencies.
Overnight arrests reached 218 during the second night of the curfew as police cracked downhard on curfew violators. They reported scattered incidents of rock- and bottle-throwing, somelooting and vandalism and a few random shots fired.
But overall, they said they were pleased with the effect the curfew was having in deterring thekind of violence that prevailed earlier in the week.
Several nationally prominent African Americans were on the scene on Saturday to join in effortsto restrain violence. Among them were Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, the Rev. MartinLuther King III and Malik Zulo Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party.
Mayor Charles Luken said he was receiving some pressure from business interests to lift thecurfew, but that nearly all Cincinnatians seemed to understand the necessity of keeping peopleoff streets at night during the current wave of unrest.
U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft announced on Friday that U.S. Justice Department lawyers wouldlaunch a review of the practices, procedures and training of Cincinnati police.
And evidence from the shooting, which triggered three nights of rioting, looting and arson bygangs of black youths, will be examined next week by a grand jury to determine whether it wasjustifiable.
The FBI has also opened its own inquiry into the case.