Protesters have demanded the removal of two district attorneys accused of dragging their feet in arresting two white men suspected in the shooting death of a young black jogger in the US state of Georgia.
Speeches rang out from the steps of the small coastal community's courthouse during a rally on Saturday that drew hundreds outraged by the video of the killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery on 23 February.
Activists saw his death as the latest US case of white perpetrators killing a black man and going unpunished. The father-and-son suspects were not arrested until weeks after the shooting, and just days after the video surfaced online.
Some of the protesters made a four-hour trek from Atlanta. They chanted "Justice of Ahmaud" and "I am Ahmaud," and also wore T-shirts memorialising Arbery. Local clergy led prayers for his family members, some of whom attended the rally.
A group of protesters march from the Glynn County Courthouse to a police station after a rally to protest the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, Source: AP
"Ahmaud's death won't be in vain," his aunt Thea Brooks said on the steps of the Glynn County Courthouse as other family members stood next to her. "We are going to fight for Ahmaud. We are going to get answers when it comes down to justice for Ahmaud."
Speakers told the crowd that Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill, the district attorneys for the Brunswick and Waycross judicial circuits, must be removed from office for their handling of the case. It took 74 days after the shooting for the suspects to be arrested and charged.
"Racism is real in America and racism is real in Brunswick, Georgia and we come today to send a message to the racists and the supremacist that we will fight you with everything that we have," said Reverend Timothy McDonald, the pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta said.
Atlanta civil rights attorney Mawuli Davis, 51, one of the organisers of the demonstration, said the case reflects a US justice system that is biased in favour of whites.
"If it wasn't for the video, this would have been swept under the rug," he said in a Reuters interview on Friday.
The suspects, former police officer Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were ultimately arrested and charged on May 7 with aggravated assault and murder, after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation began to probe the case.
Last week, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr asked the US Justice Department to open a probe into how the case was handled by Johnson and Barnhill as well as the Glynn County Police Department.
