Protesters at LAPD Headquarters: We Stand With Christopher Dorner

A protest in response to the death of fired LAPD officer Christopher Dorner – the subject of an extensive manhunt who is accused of killing four people – brought out about two dozen protesters in front of police headquarters in downtown Los Angeles Saturday.

Organizers said the demonstration would be peaceful and expected about 200 participants to show up by noon.

One group of the demonstrators called themselves "We Stand With Christopher Dorner."

Others, who may have been affiliated with the "hacktivist" group Anonymous, wore masks and said they were there to represent victims of police brutality.

Protesters carried signs that read "end police brutality," and "clear his name."

Dorner, who was killed Tuesday after a fiery shootout at a mountain cabin near Big Bear, elicited sympathy from some who read his 11,400-word manifesto. In the document, Dorner described his firing from the LAPD after a review panel found he falsely reported another officer for excessive use of force against a suspect.

Timeline: Revenge-Plot Slayings | Read: Full Manifesto | Map: Dorner Manhunt

In the document, which he posted on Facebook, Dorner vowed to reclaim his name, and included a list of targets that he planned to eliminate. He also said the LAPD was a racist organization that had failed to reform after a series of scandals in the 1990s.

Dina Escoto, one of several people carrying signs at the protest, said she wished "in a way" that Dorner had survived so that the public could "hear his side of the story."

She said she hopes the protest "sheds some light and police change policies so we won't have another Chris Dorner."

Escoto and others said they were focused on police brutality and on the shooting of innocent civilians -- in an incident in Torrance in which two women were shot up in their truck -- in the pursuit of Dorner.

"We're protesting some of the police brutality -- not just LAPD, but all over the nation," said protester and Lomita resident Vincent Namm, a former Marine. "With Chris Dorner, habeas corpus just got thrown out the window.''

Namm added: "They didn't seem like they were even interested in apprehending him."

Authorities said Friday that Dorner had likely died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a firefight at the cabin, which burned down during the confrontation. San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said authorities did not intend to start the conflagration. He defended his deputies' actions when asked about audiotape recorded at the scene that seemed to indicate a desire on the part of officials to intentionally burn the cabin down.

Protesters were skeptical of the official version of events. Namm compared the Dorner gun battle and fire to the 1993 federal siege of a Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

Saturday's demonstrators began to gather a little before 10 a.m. near the corner of First and Main streets before making their way to 100 W. First St., where they were met by yellow police tape bordering LAPD headquarters.

There were at least three officers at different positions in front of the building, along with three parked television vans.

Namm said demonstrators would probably stay until about 3 p.m. and remain peaceful.