Police arrested 17 people Wednesday night in the US state of California who were protesting the acquittal of George Zimmerman by a court in Florida.Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida last year, after a nighttime confrontation.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the protesters were arrested in Victorville, 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Eight of those arrested were juveniles.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said about 80 people took part in the peaceful rally.
Some protesters carried signs saying "We Are All Trayvon" and "Sin Justicia No Hay Paz," or without justice there is no peace in Spanish.
Thousands of people across the United States have taken to the streets to protest Zimmermans acquittal and more demonstrations are expected.
On Tuesday, African American preachers said they were planning more protests in 100 cities across the country this weekend.
Some experts say the US criminal justice system is inherently unjust and African-Americans cannot rely upon the system or the courts for their human rights.
Racial disparities in convictions and sentencing in the American criminal justice system have been widely documented by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Although Zimmerman was not a police officer, some critics of the court verdict say Martin's death is an example of how young black men in the US are profiled by law enforcement.
According to a new Gallup poll, about one in four young African American said they had been treated unfairly by the police during the past month.
By Press TV
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