NAACP takes a stand at George Zimmerman trial: ‘No one tells us … what to do’

Members of the NAACP rallying around the Trayvon Martin family at George Zimmerman’s trial for second-degree murder, which continued Tuesday, said they wouldn’t stay within the marked protest area set up by law enforcement.

“The so-called ’demonstration area’ that has been designated — you will not see us protesting in that particular area ’cause no one tells us where to go, how long to stay, what to do and what to say,” said Seminole County NAACP President Turner Clayton Jr. in a local 13 News report.

The trial kicked off Monday with an entirely female jury. Mr. Zimmerman says he shot and killed the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense, in line with Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” gun laws. Attorneys for the Martin family say Mr. Zimmerman did not have to shoot and kill the teen and that he “profiled” the boy and then covered his tracks by claiming self-defense, WWLP reported.

Civil rights activists are watching the trial’s progression closely — and an estimated 200 members of the local NAACP spent the night in prayer and a town-hall discussion at Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sanford, down the road from the courthouse, 13 News reported.