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Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the town of Jena, Louisiana to demand justice for the Jena Six—the six African American teenagers facing a total of over 100 years in prison for allegedly beating a white student in a schoolyard fight. The fight occurred after white students hung nooses from a tree at the school. Thursday’s protest was one of the largest civil rights rallies in the South since the 1960s. According to the Associated Press the state police estimated as many as 60,000 people took part in a series of rallies and marches in Jena, a town of just 3,000 residents. The Rev. Al Sharpton declared Jena to be the beginning of the 21st century civil rights movement.