Youth burning a United States flag during demonstration against the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin. Demonstrations were held across the country., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Zimmerman’s acquittal triggers protests
Monday, 15 July 2013 00:00
SAN FRANCISCO. — Americans angry at the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of black teen Trayvon Martin marched in US cities throughout Saturday night, with reports of sporadic acts of violence.
Spontaneous marches erupted in cities including San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, Atlanta and Philadelphia.
A jury in Sanford, Florida late Saturday found Zimmerman, a volunteer neighbourhood watchman, not guilty of shooting dead Martin, a 17 year-old unarmed teen on the night of February 26, 2012.
The trial has riveted the nation for weeks, and emotions came to a boiling point as news of the verdict spread.
Prominent rights activists like Jesse Jackson appealed for calm. “Avoid violence, it will lead to more tragedies. Find a way for self construction not deconstruction in this time of despair,” he wrote on Twitter.
Martin’s parents have long called for non-violent demonstrations, quoting civil rights icon Martin Luther King and the Bible.
Several hundred demonstrators marched peacefully amid a heavy police presence in downtown San Francisco soon after the verdict. Many carried signs with slogans such as “The people say guilty.”
Hours later angry protesters marching through Oakland — just across the bay from San Francisco — spray-painted cars and smashed windows, helicopter video footage posted by the Oakland Tribune showed.
One vandalised vehicle was a police cruiser.
In Chicago, to the cry of “No justice, no peace! No racist police!” a crowd of activists held a noisy downtown rally, the Chicago Tribune reported, while protesters gathered at Times Square in New York City to vent their anger.
Los Angeles police declared a “citywide tactical alert” when some 200 demonstrators gathered at a park in a historical black neighbourhood to demonstrate, but police later told local media that it was as a precaution, and that there had been no acts of violence.
In Washington, dozens of mostly African-American youths marched chanting slogans in a city neighbourhood.
They were followed closely by patrol vehicles, an AFP journalist reported.
A crowd of several hundred gathered all day Saturday outside the courthouse in Sanford, Florida and many were outraged when the verdict was read.
Benjamin Todd Jealous, head of the NAACP, the premier US civil rights group, said his organisation is “outraged and heartbroken” over the verdict.
“We will pursue civil rights charges with the Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the removal of Stand Your Ground laws in every state, and we will not rest until racial profiling in all its forms is outlawed.”
The controversial laws allow people who fear for their lives to use deadly force to defend themselves without having to flee a confrontation.
“The jury found he acted appropriately in defending his life in accordance with the law,” George’s brother Robert Zimmerman Jr said on CNN.”
— AFP
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