The acquittal of George Zimmerman in Florida sent hundreds of people into the streets in San Francisco and Oakland on Sunday to decry what they called the persistent racism that allowed the neighborhood-watch volunteer to beat a second-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting of unarmed African American teenager Trayvon Martin.
In New York, demonstrators massed in Times Square. In Los Angeles, they temporarily blocked Interstate 10. The Los Angeles Times reported that the protests there were primarily peaceful, but that police officers had fired beanbag rounds at people who threw rocks and batteries at them.
The San Francisco rally drew a few hundred people, who brought bongo drums and bullhorns. They briefly blocked some intersections as police officers formed lines beside them, and then listened to speeches in Justin Herman Plaza along the Embarcadero.
At the Oakland gathering, several hundred people listened to speeches made over a megaphone and painted signs before embarking on a long march into West Oakland, receiving applause from some residents as they walked. One older woman on the porch of a Victorian home held up a fist in a black power salute. They returned downtown, blocking the intersection of 14th Street and Broadway.
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