Groups Plan Protest Of Rittenhouse’s ‘Not Guilty’ Verdict Sunday At Sarasota Courthouse

SARASOTA, FL — Local activist organizations will gather at the Sarasota County Courthouse Sunday at 5 p.m. to protest a Wisconsin jury finding Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty after he shot three protesters in Kenosha — two of them fatally — last year during a period of civil unrest.

Protesters took to the streets in Kenosha following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by white police officers in August 2020.

Rittenhouse was acquittedof first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, on the third night of protests.

He was also acquitted of attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the shooting that injured a third protester, Gaige Grosskreutz, now 28. A misdemeanor weapons charge was dismissed by the jury earlier in the week.

Related Stories:

• Rittenhouse Acquitted In Fatal Kenosha Protest Shooting
• Photos: Kyle Rittenhouse Not Guilty In Kenosha Killings
• FL Rep. Matt Gaetz Wants To Hire Kyle Rittenhouse As An Intern
• Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict Prompts Los Angeles Protests
• Anthony Huber's Parents Speak Out After Rittenhouse Verdict

The Leaders Rights Organization, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Women’s Voices of SW Florida and BLM Manasota organized Sunday’s protest in Sarasota.

In the protest’s Facebook event page, the groups called it “an unusual trial where Rittenhouse was shown tremendous favoritism by the judge.”

The organizations added, “Rittenhouse was not acting in self-defense, as it was portrayed by the corporate media and police. Rittenhouse, at the age of 17, drove across state lines with the intention of playing militia, and…armed with the ability kill protestors. The US ‘justice’ system has sent a clear message: In the Unites States of America, white supremacists go free. Join us to protest this racist system. We, the people, find Rittenhouse guilty on all charges.”

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BLM Manasota wrote in a separate Facebook post, “The verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse speaks volumes on how corrupt the justice system is and how it works and benefits a certain demographic of people. We witnessed from beginning to end how the justice system failed the people.”