Atlanta Rallies for Slain Florida Teen, Demonstrators Demand Arrest
More than a thousand people rallied Monday on the steps of the Gold Dome in memory of Treyvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old killed by a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer.
The weather was sunny and clear as protestors flooded into downtown Atlanta.
In Florida, Treyvon Martin was found unarmed, with a pack of skittles in his hoodie sweatshirt. At the rally, hooded demonstrators chanted for justice and rattled their own packs of skittles.
Civil rights groups, students and elected officials all demanded the arrest of George Zimmerman, who maintains he shot Martin in self-defense, despite reports that he pursued the teen after a 911 operator told him to wait for police. Under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, police didn’t make an arrest.
Numerous speakers hoped the teen’s death would be a call to action for greater involvement in the political process. State representative Rashad Taylor vowed to try and repeal Georgia’s own Stand Your Ground law. He said the law is part of a larger problem here in Georgia.
Meanwhile, simultaneous protests were held across the country, from Los Angelos to Sanford, the central Florida town where the shooting occurred.
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