BATON ROUGE - Rev. Reginald Pitcher, head of the Louisiana Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, has been suspended indefinitely after he called for a retail boycott in Baton Rouge.

The boycott came in the wake of the fatal officer-involved shooting of a black man outside of a Capital City convenience store on July 5.

SCLC President Charles Steele Jr. said Pitcher did not secure permission from the national office to call for the boycott.The “selective buying campaign” was called for at the Cortana Mall, Mall of Louisiana and area Walmarts at a press conference following the shooting of Alton Sterling.

Rev. Pitcher expressed disappointment with the SCLC decision. He has refused calls for his resignation.

A statement from Steele says the call for a boycott sensationalized the death of Alton Sterling in order to play to the media “without clear motives or intentions.”

Rev. Pitcher’s suspension is effective immediately and will remain in place until he meets with Steele and the SCLC Board of Directors.

Pitcher has been advised to refrain from making public statements on behalf of the SCLC.