Protesters against Racism March for Jacob Blake in Kenosha (+Video)

More than a thousand people took part in a Kenosha rally to protest against police violence, nearly a week after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times, leaving the 29-year-old Black man paralyzed from the waist down, Al Jazeera reported.

Marchers on Saturday chanted "No justice, no peace!" as the march began and "Seven bullets, seven days" - a reference to the number of times Blake was shot.

Those leading the march carried a banner reading "Justice for Jacob" as they made their way towards the Kenosha County Courthouse, where several speakers railed against racial injustice and urged people to vote for change in November.

"There were seven bullets put in my son's back ... Hell yeah, I'm mad," said Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr. He said he wants to ask the police, "What gave them the right to attempted murder on my child? What gave them the right to think that my son was an animal? What gave them the right to take something that was not theirs? I'm tired of this. I'm tired of this."

Blake Sr asked members of the crowd to raise their fists in the air with him.

"We are not going to stop going in the right direction. We're going to the top ... we're gonna make legislation happen because that's the only thing that they recognize," he said.

He also urged protesters to refrain from the looting and vandalism that he said detracted from the push for progress.

"Good people of this city understand. If we tear it up we have nothing," he told a gathering at a park that was the hub of protests in support of his son, Jacob Blake Jr. "Stop it. Show 'em for one night, we don't have to tear up nothing.

Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey and two other officers were responding to a domestic abuse call on Sunday when Sheskey shot Blake seven times in the back. Blake is recovering in a Milwaukee hospital.

The shooting, which was captured on mobile-phone video, sparked new protests against racial injustice and police brutality, just three months after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody touched off months of nationwide demonstrations.

Protesters have marched on Kenosha's streets every night since the shooting, with protests at times devolving into unrest that damaged buildings and vehicles.

On Tuesday, two people were killed by an armed civilian during a demonstration. Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Illinois who had gone to the protests armed with a semi-automatic rifle, is currently being held without bond and awaiting an extradition hearing on returning him to Wisconsin to face six criminal counts, including first-degree intentional murder, attempted murder, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor.

The commander of the National Guard said on Friday that more than 1,000 Guard members had been deployed to help keep the peace, and more were on the way.