Hundreds Protest in Racially Torn Area : Brooklyn: Marchers demand arrest of Hasidic Jew whose car killed a black child. Dinkins, greeted warmly, urges residents to make peace.

NEW YORK —  Hundreds of people took to the streets of a racially torn Brooklyn neighborhood Saturday, demanding the arrest of a Hasidic Jew who drove a car that struck and killed a black child, touching off three days of violence.

Mayor David N. Dinkins walked through Crown Heights earlier, urging residents to make peace.

Nearly 1,400 police officers, many in riot gear, kept watch as about 300 marchers chanted “Dinkins Says Get Back. We Say Fight Back.” Many held signs, including one that read “No rest until an arrest.”

Violence broke out last Monday when a car in the entourage of the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher Jewish sect careened onto a sidewalk and hit Gavin Cato, 7. Blacks contend that the crew of a private Jewish ambulance tended to the driver while the child lay dying. Police say city ambulance crews treated Cato.

During three days of rioting that followed, a rabbinical student was stabbed to death--allegedly by a black teen-ager--more than 150 people were arrested and dozens were injured.

Protesters on Saturday stopped in front of a house they believed was the home of Yosef Lisef, 22, the Hasidic driver, and chanted “No justice! No Peace!”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a black activist, was among the protest leaders. He said Dinkins should make sure Lisef is arrested.

“If I was the mayor, I would lay down and think why I’m in such trouble with the black community,” Sharpton said. “I think the mayor has been too lenient.”

Authorities have said a grand jury is investigating whether to bring charges against Lisef.

The marchers encountered few Hasidim, who were observing the Jewish Sabbath, until they reached the headquarters of the Lubavitcher sect. About 50 Hasidim standing on the steps remained behind police barricades.

No violence was reported, and there were no arrests, police said.

Dinkins was in the neighborhood Saturday morning, talking with residents and hugging children. Unlike his visit Wednesday night, when black youths showered him with bottles, he was warmly greeted by blacks and Hasidim.

The mayor, dressed in a jogging suit and a blue Malcolm X baseball cap, placed a wreath at the corner where the 7-year-old was killed. Later he placed a wreath at the corner where the student, Yankel Rosenbaum, was stabbed.

Crown Heights, with about 300,000 residents, was once mostly Jewish but now is about 80% black.