Las Vegas Sun

May 6, 2024

Florida protesters upset with verdict leave Capitol

Protesters

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PowerUCenter member Keno Walker and Dream Defenders member Eli Armstrong join in a chant July 26, 2013, outside Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s office in the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Protesters angered by the acquittal of George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin's killing are leaving the Florida Capitol after staging a 31-day protest.

The small but determined group wanted Gov. Rick Scott to call a special session to repeal the state's "stand your ground" law.

Scott refused. But House Speaker Will Weatherford agreed to hold a legislative hearing on the law.

Organizers say they are not giving up on their goals.

The Dream Defenders plan to return to the Capitol when lawmakers hold committee meetings in September.

They also said they will join events being held in Washington D.C. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famed "I Have a Dream" speech.

Zimmerman was cleared of charges in last year's fatal shooting of the 17-year-old.

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