Hundreds Protest Zimmerman Verdict in Newark

About 300 people took part in a downtown Newark rally Sunday to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the Florida neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin last year.

Newark was just one of many communities where spontaneous protests broke out in the wake of the Florida jury’s verdict Saturday.

“There are plenty of Trayvon Martins in Newark. There are plenty of Trayvon Martins in Irvington. There are plenty of Trayvon Martins in East Orange,” Beautiful SeeAsia, of the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, said through a loudspeaker set up at the intersection of Broad and Market streets, the city’s main crossroads and a popular site for public rallies.

“Trayvon’s father moved to a gated community in the suburbs, and he still got killed,” SeeAsia added.

The protest, called by by the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition and involving other groups including the People’s Organization for Progress and the New Black Panther Party, started at about 2 p.m., when a few dozen people planted themselves at the busy intersection, stopping traffic.

Some protesters, escorted by Newark police, then marched south on Broad to city hall and circled back to the intersection while other protesters remained there.

The protest was boisterous but peaceful. At least one older protester was treated by EMS workers after apparently succumbing to the heat Sunday, when temperatures were in the low 90s.

City police diverted traffic away from the area for the two-hour duration of the rally. In a statement, Police Director Samuel DeMaio said the department had made preparations in advance, realizing the verdict, which exonerated Zimmerman in the death of a black teenager, would likely spur demonstrations in a city with a long tradition of public protest.

"The Newark Police Department devised a plan of preparedness in response to the verdict in the Zimmerman trial.  As the jury started the deliberation phase of the trial, all on duty personnel would be readily available to respond to protests, regardless of the trial's outcome," DeMaio said, adding that the protest was “conducted in a peaceful manner.”

Addressing a crowd that had formed a human chain circling the intersection, speakers Sunday repeatedly described the Zimmerman verdict as another instance of injustice against African-Americans. People in the crowd wore shirts or waved banners referring to the deaths or false arrests of other blacks, including Amadou Diallo, the unarmed West African immigrant shot to death by police in New York City 14 years ago.

“Every time we go two steps forward, someone pushes us two steps back,” said Ras Baraka, who represents the South Ward on the Newark Municipal Council and is also a candidate for mayor.

Baraka and his supporters also spoke in favor of his mayoral candidacy, deriding his two opponents, fellow councilman Anibal Ramos and Shavar Jeffries, a former assistant state attorney general, as mere copies of current Mayor Cory Booker. At least a few members of the crowd were troubled by the impromptu campaigning on Baraka’s behalf.

“There’s a time and a place for that, and I don’t think this is it,” one young man said. “Let’s not forget what we’re here for.”

Speaking to a multiracial crowd Sunday, Baraka and other speakers were also careful to characterize the Zimmerman verdict as not just an affront to African-Americans but as an injustice affecting everyone.

“I know there are many Latinos who think this was wrong,” Baraka said. Zimmerman is of part Peruvian descent.  

On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman, who was 28 at the time, was in his car when he observed Martin, 17, walking alone through a gated community in Sanford, Fla., where Martin was staying with his father.

Zimmerman, who believed Martin was suspicious, called police before exiting the car and following him. A fight then broke out between the two and Zimmerman shot Martin, killing him. Zimmerman claimed he acted in self-defense.