NEW YORK (AP) -- They waited for hours, singing spirituals, praying and chanting for justice, but in a flash, the crowd gathered outside a Queens courthouse Friday erupted in anger and grief.
Men cursed and shouted. Women wailed and covered their faces. ``Oh, no! No!'' they yelled, as word spread that three police officers had been cleared of all charges in the 50-bullet shooting that took Sean Bell's life on his wedding day in 2006.
To some, the acquittal seemed like more proof that blacks can't get a fair shake in the criminal justice system.
Moments after the verdict was announced, Trent Benefield, a friend of Bell's who was wounded in the hail of gunfire, staggered down the courthouse steps with a look of angry disbelief on his face, a friend's arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders.
``Not guilty. Not guilty. It's real,'' he said, while dozens of people wearing Bell's face on hats, T-shirts and buttons burst into sobs.
Within an hour, the crowd of about 200 people had settled down and dispersed. Despite some pushing and shoving in the throng as emotions ran hot, no arrests were made.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who represented the Bell family, angrily denounced the verdicts on his radio show later and called on his followers to protest the outcome, but without violence.
He vowed to lead a campaign of ``economic withdrawal'' and civil disobedience that could include demonstrations at police headquarters and outside the judge's home.
``We are coming back to demonstrate to the federal government that New Yorkers will not take this abortion of justice lying down,'' Sharpton said. ``We are going to close the city down in a nonviolent, effective way.''
The protests were muted compared with past verdicts where officers were cleared in police shootings of black men, perhaps a result of improved race relations and the complicated nature of the Bell case.
Bell was black, but so were two of the three officers charged in the shooting, including the one who fired the first shot.
Supporters of the Bell family began arriving early at the courthouse. Few were able to get inside. Most waited in a long line on the sidewalk, leaning against police barricades.
A few carried signs reading ``Justice for Sean Bell.'' One group held a banner proclaiming, ``50 Shots. 50 More Reasons We Need Revolution.''
Scores of officers wearing blue NYPD polo shirts, along with others in standard uniform, ringed the building and kept the sidewalk clear of swarming journalists.
Inside the packed courtroom, gasps could be heard when Justice Arthur Cooperman acquitted the officers. Bell's mother cried; her husband put his arm around her and shook his head. Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, rushed from the courtroom. Officer Michael Oliver, who fired the most shots, also cried.
Word spread immediately to the crowd outside, and the reaction was intense.
William Hardgraves, 48, an electrician from Harlem who brought his 12-year-old son and 23-year-old daughter to hear the verdict, paced angrily.
``I hoped it would be different this time. They shot him 50 times,'' Hardgraves said. ``But of course, it wasn't.''
Calvin Hunt of Harlem shared his anger.
``This was a disgrace, what happened today,'' he said.
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