The second anniversary of the shooting death of Fredy Villanueva will be marked by a weekend of concerts, speeches, and public forums.

Hoodstock will take place on Sunday, August 8 in Henri Bourassa park in Montreal North, the same park where Villanueva was shot and killed.

The event will feature a speech from a former mayor of Port-au-prince, Haiti.

Lobbying to rename park after Villanueva

Stephanie Germain, who was good friends with Villanueva, is spearheading the preparations for the concert and the race-relations symposium.

She says despite overtures by police to those in Montreal North since Villanueva's death, relations between officers and residents are very poor.

"Sometimes we can walk on the street, and we can walk in the park and police officers are going to come and stay here and watch us," said Germain.

"It's like they're saying, 'don't do anything we're going to watch you.'"

Friends and family of Villanueva are lobbying to rename Henri Bourassa park after the slain teenager.

Villanueva was shot and killed by a Montreal police officer on August 9, 2008.

Officers Stephanie Pilotte and Jean-Loup Lapointe were attempting to arrest Fredy's older brother Dany when several people got into a violent confrontation, which ended with an Lapointe firing several bullets.

Fredy was killed, and two other men were injured.

Subject to an inquiry

The specific events of the shooting are the subject of an ongoing inquiry, and photographs of Lapointe and Pilotte are subject to a publication ban, which is why Villanueva's mother is angry with police.

Lilian Antunes accuses police of ripping down posters plastered around Montreal North that have her son's picture on them.

"Why do the police continue to hurt me," asked Antunes. "It was the police who killed my son."

The posters feature details about the officer who killed Villanueva.

Despite the publication ban, Alexandre Popovic of Citizens Against Police Brutality says the posters should be up in the neighbourhood.

"The population has the right to know what is his name and badge number we will make no apologies for it," said Popovic.

Others have accused the family of intimidating shopkeepers in the area and forcing them to put up posters, but the Villanueva family says that it is not forcing anyone to put signs in their stores.