The USA’s Trayvon Case: Occupying Times Square, New York Calls for Justice

A wave of demonstrations throughout the United States. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the acquittal of a neighborhood watch coordinator who, in 2012, shot a 17-year old African-American. “If the victim had been white,” they declare, “would the verdict have been the same?”

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Times Square in New York City – along with many other cities in America, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Baltimore and Detroit – to ask for justice for Trayvon Martin, the black youth killed in February 2012 in Sanford, Florida by a neighborhood watch coordinator. On the streets of the Big Apple, they shouted their rage for the acquittal of George Zimmerman, screaming slogans such as “No justice, no peace!” and “Who is guilty? The whole system is guilty!”

A peaceful procession started from Union Square and headed for Times Square: a parade full of people of all ages — many of them children — and races, composed not only of African Americans, but also Hispanics, Asians and Indians. Having arrived in the square, symbolic in Manhattan, protesters occupied it, sitting on the ground and staging a sit-in. A sign showed pictures of a white Trayvon and a black Zimmerman. Under the heading: ‘Would the verdict have been the same? ” All around traffic was paralyzed, although many of the drivers sympathized with the protest, joining the slogans and hooting their horns.

Several police officers flanked the course of the event, but their presence was discreet, despite the huge crowd that gathered at the end under the bright lights of Times Square. The protests, however, involved the whole country, from Sanford to New York, Washington, Tampa, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

A few hours after the sentencing, a comment arrived from President Barack Obama: “The jury has spoken,” he said, requesting respect for the family of the young black man and launching an appeal for “calm reflection.” “The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy for all of America,” he said in a statement. “We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens,” said Obama, “that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.”