Thousands took to streets across the US on Sunday, as protests against the acquittal of George Zimmerman entered their second day. Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012.
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The Justice Department said Sunday that it will restart its
investigation into last year’s killing to consider possible
separate hate crime charges against George Zimmerman. The news
follows huge public outcry and calls from civil rights leaders to
reopen the inquiry.
"Experienced federal prosecutors will determine whether the
evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited
federal criminal civil rights statutes within our
jurisdiction...and whether federal prosecution is appropriate in
accordance with the department's policy governing successive
federal prosecution following a state trial,” a Justice
Department spokesman said in a Sunday statement.
Massive “Justice for Trayvon” marches took place in New York
City, Boston, San, Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities across
America on Sunday. At least five people were arrested in New
York, RT’s Marina Portnaya reported.
US President Barack Obama has called for peaceful reaction,
urging Americans to respect the verdict of the jury, which
cleared George Zimmerman of the murder of Trayvon Martin.
“I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the
wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even
higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken,”
the president said in a statement.
In New York City, a few thousand people marched from Union Square
to Times Square. Demonstrators blocked traffic while chanting
slogans. Police tried and failed to funnel the crowd into
controlled lanes.
NYC Rally 4 #TreyvonMartin. Crowd chanting "off the sidewalks. Into the streets." This rally is huge, folks. pic.twitter.com/7O35qbAG03
— marina portnaya (@portnayanyc) July 14, 2013
Some 500 protesters of different ethnic backgrounds took to the
streets of Boston, with police describing the rally as "very
orderly."
"Morally it cannot be right, that a child cannot go about his
business and go to the store," 57-year-old Maura Twomey told
Reuters. "Racism is not just an issue for the black community.
It's for all of us."
Hundreds protested in San Francisco and Los Angeles, with RT’s
Ramon Galindo reporting that demonstrators shut down the I-10
interstate highway.
On Saturday, large
spontaneous demonstrations broke out after the jury announced
the not-guilty verdict.
Demonstrators in Oakland, California smashed windows in protest.
There were also reports that small fires burned throughout the
city, and that a police vehicle was damaged.
Twenty-nine-year-old Zimmerman was acquitted on Saturday of all
charges relating to the fatal shooting of Martin. The former
neighborhood watch volunteer could have been sentenced to life in
prison for second-degree murder or up to 30 years for
manslaughter if he was found guilty.
Martin, 17, was shot over a year ago by Zimmerman, who claimed he
acted in self-defense. The prosecution argued that Zimmerman was
guilty of second-degree murder, stating that he racially profiled
the unarmed teen and assumed he was a criminal when he saw him
walking through a gated community in Sanford. They claimed that
Zimmerman tracked the boy down and started the fight that led to
the shooting.