Protesters demanding that Gov. Ed Rendell declare a moratorium on executions rallied yesterday at a Downtown church and met with former City Council President Bob O'Connor, Rendell's representative, to present more than 2,000 petition signatures.

About 20 protesters representing Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty and other groups supporting the moratorium gathered at Smithfield United Church of Christ to denounce the death penalty as unfair to minorities and the poor.

Rendell, a former prosecutor, has said the death penalty is fair and opposes a moratorium, but he has agreed to hear the protesters' complaints.

While a delegation of protesters was scheduled to meet with O'Connor at the State Office Building between 4 and 5 p.m. yesterday, supporters were invited to attend an informational picket line outside.

Protesters blamed racism, police corruption and an inability of poor defendants to hire good lawyers for the high number of minority death-row inmates. About 70 percent are black.