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an unarmed teenager, last year.
The protesters in Los Angeles attacked passersby and broke windows, while in Oakland, a group briefly blocked a highway.
Thirteen people were arrested after multiple acts of vandalism and several assaults in Los Angeles’ Crenshaw District, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Police Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference.
Garcetti and Beck didn’t elaborate on the assaults or any injuries, but at least one man could be seen in the street with a head injury.
More than 300 officers were called to the scene and were at first slow to directly engage protesters in an attempt to allow a peaceful end to the demonstration, Beck said. But the chief said police would take a much stricter posture in the coming nights.
“This will not be allowed to continue,” Beck said.
Several hundred mostly peaceful protesters gathered on Monday night at Leimert Park south-west of downtown LA, many of them chanting, praying and singing.
But a smaller group of between 100 and 150 people splintered off and began blocking traffic on nearby Crenshaw Boulevard, some of them jumping on cars and breaking windows at liquor stores and fast food outlets.
TV news helicopters showed some people kicking and punching others along the street, including two people sitting on a bus bench.
Police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly about three hours after it began, and most of the crowd left the street.
Garcetti, who returned early from an East Coast trip because of the demonstrations, praised the “overwhelming majority” who protested peacefully.
“We are a better city than what we have seen tonight in the hands of a few people,” the mayor said.
In Oakland, dozens of demonstrators briefly blocked all lanes of Interstate 880 at the tail end of rush hour, stopping traffic in both directions for several minutes before lanes were cleared by authorities. Several protesters laid their bicycles on the ground in front of stopped cars.
“You’ve got to go. You will go to jail,” one police officer shouted at demonstrators who were blocking traffic, the Oakland Tribune reported. However, police decided not to make arrests as the marchers, chanting “Justice for Trayvon Martin,” were directed back to surface streets.
Meanwhile, Rev Al Sharpton told the media in Washington DC yesterday that they were planning “Justice for Trayvon” vigils in 100 cities across the United States this weekend. Sharpton also called for the federal government to investigate civil rights charges against Zimmerman.
Sharpton confessed that he was disappointed by the verdict against Zimmerman, but he was not surprised.
“You have to remember, we had to fight and demonstrate to even get a trial,” he recalled.
Sharpton said that his network and Martin family attorney Ben Crump began the process of pursuing civil rights claims against Zimmerman before the trial even began. — Washington Post/AFP.
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