CHICAGO — The waves of George Zimmerman’s innocent verdict three months ago in the killing of Trayvon Martin were still being felt in Chicago Tuesday, as mourners gathered in solidarity against police injustice and violence against African-Americans.

They stood in Daley Plaza during the Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation rally, a movement that has been mobilizing every year since 1996. Protesters in Chicago joined rallies nationwide in more than a dozen states as well as Canada.

Hannibal Saleem-Ali stood in front of the protesters, holding a banner showing young men who had been shot and killed in Chicago by police in 2013. His 28-year-old nephew, Anjustine Hunter, was shot and killed by Memphis police under suspicious circumstances in April this year.

“He was shot nine times, twice in the head. He had no guns, no drugs, nothing illegal on him,” said Saleem-Ali.

Protesters held solemn photos of victims of police brutality and wrongful imprisonment in front of the Picasso statue in the plaza at Washington and Dearborn. Most of the photos were of black or Hispanic young males.

“How many pictures do we have to hold up? This has to stop. We can’t adequately represent all the victims here, there are not enough pictures,” he said. “African-Americans in America are existentially guilty. What happened to fair trials? What happened to innocent before being proven guilty?”

In 1996, the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) chose Oct. 22 as the day of action because students are back in school and it falls before the November elections.

Their mission statement regarding the National Day of Protest is stated as: “The National Day of Protest aims to bring forward a powerful, visible, national protest against police brutality and the criminalization of a generation. It aims to expose the state’s repressive program. It aims to bring forward those most directly under the gun of police brutality and to also reach into all parts of the society- bringing forward others to stand in the fight against this official brutality. And the National Day of Protest aims to strengthen the peoples’ organized capacity for resistance in a variety of ways.”

Dee Williams of the Revolutionary Communist Party had a message to deliver.

“We are part of actions going on all over the country. We salute you who have been fighting in this fight for years and those who have taken their first action today.

“Without the resistance that we’re seeing here today, we have no chance at justice,” said Williams. “We need more of this. When people are not inspired and organized to stand up against these outrages, those days must be gone and they can be. We need a mass movement far beyond what we have here today.”