Al Sharpton, accompanied by leading ministers of the black community, calls for a "national Justice for Trayvon Day," featuring rallies in 100 cities across the U.S. in the wake of the acquittal of George Zimmerman.
By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News
Protests over the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin will continue all summer ? starting with vigils in 100 cities on Saturday, followed by marches in Tallahassee, Fla., and Washington, D.C., the Rev. Al Sharpton announced Tuesday.
?Florida will be the battleground of a new civil rights movement,? Sharpton said during a news conference with other clergy outside the Justice Department headquarters.
?We are not having a two- or three-day anger fit,? said Sharpton,who is president of the National Action Network and also hosts a show on MSNBC. ?This is a movement for social justice.?
Sharpton said the nationwide action has two goals: urging the Justice Department to move forward with a civil-rights probe of Zimmerman and repealing ?Stand Your Ground? self-defense laws that some say made it difficult to win a conviction in the case.
Rallies and vigils have been held by Martin supporters in major cities since a Florida jury found Zimmerman not guilty on Saturday night. They have been mostly peaceful, though 14 people were arrested Monday night in Los Angeles after a gathering descended into chaos with some people throwing rocks, attacking people and clashing with police, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck warned ?this will not be allowed to continue? and said police would take a more active role in controlling demonstrations ? and Sharpton urged all protesters to remain peaceful, saying Martin?s name should not be ?smeared with reckless violence.?
Fourteen people were arrested in Los Angeles after another night of protests over the acquittal of George Zimmerman over the weekend, putting the LAPD on tactical alert.
At the same time, he struck a fiery tone, saying, ?On Saturday night with the verdict we lost the battle, but the war is not over and we intend to fight.?
The first action will be Saturday, when Martin supporters will gather for an hour in front of federal buildings and courthouses in 100 cities ?calling on the Department of Justice to resume aggressively a civil rights investigation in this matter.?
The Justice Department launched a probe three weeks after the Feb. 26, 2012, shooting in Sanford, Fla., and it remains open. While Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that Martin?s death was ?unnecessary,? many legal experts doubt that the feds will bring hate crime charges against Zimmerman.
Zimmerman is of white and Hispanic descent and Martin was black, but state prosecutors did not make race a major issue during the trial. Defense lawyer Mark O?Mara has said race was not a factor in the confrontation and that if Zimmerman had been black, he never would have been arrested.
The volunteer neighborhood watchman, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, claimed he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense after being attacked on a dark rainy night in the gated community.
One of the jurors told CNN that no one on the panel believed race played a part in the shooting and she had ?no doubt? that Zimmerman feared for his life and acted in self-defense.
Jae C. Hong / AP
A Trayvon Martin supporter confronts a Los Angles police officer during a demonstration in reaction to the acquittal of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Monday, July 15, in Los Angeles.
While Zimmerman did not invoke Florida?s ?Stand Your Ground? law and ask for an immunity hearing before the trial, the jury?s instructions borrowed language from the law, specifying that if ?he was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force.?
Sharpton said civil rights leaders will convene in Miami on July 23, 24 and 25 to plan a drive against ?Stand Your Ground? laws in Florida and other states and organize a major march in Tallahassee, the capital.
?We will be in Florida en masse,? he said.
On Aug. 24, there will be a march on Washington and Sharpton said corporations that support ?Stand Your Ground? laws will be economically targeted.
?As long as ?Stand Your Ground? is on the books, we will continue to have the potential of other Trayvon Martins,? he said.
Related:
Stevie Wonder boycotts Florida in wake of George Zimmerman verdict
Zimmerman juror: He shouldn't have gotten out of that car
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