Protestors descended on Steubenville, Ohio, on Saturday to demonstrate their opposition to the cover-up of the alleged rape of a 16-year-old high school student by members of the Steubenville High School football team.
The alleged cover-up is attributed to school administrators and law enforcement authorities in the small town of Steubenville, where high school football is a mainstay with many residents.
Occupy Steubenville, as the rally came to be called throughout social media, was the second such protest in as many weeks, and it was organized by the hacker collective known as Anonymous and an offshoot group known as KnightSec.
The protest occurred after rumors emerged that Steubenville High football coach Reno Saccoccia may resign as a result of the alleged attack by members of his football squad and a possible cover-up of the incident.
A twitter feed for the KnightSec Anonymous hackers estimated that by Saturday afternoon, roughly 2,000 protesters were demonstrating in Steubenville, representing a large increase from the estimated 300 to 400 demonstrators who were there a week earlier. Speakers throughout the day included past rape victims who had never before spoken about the crimes against them and others who claimed they had been victimized or intimidated by the Steubenville football hierarchy.
At one point on Saturday, a livestream video of the demonstration charted tens of thousands of viewers.
The outrage began after the New York Times reported allegations from an unnamed girl who claimed that two star Steubenville players, Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, kidnapped and raped her during a night of partying in August. The two teens were arrested but later released; they are currently awaiting a trial, which is scheduled to begin in February.
Football coaches in the Times report are quoted as blaming the girl for whatever happened and accusing her of crying rape to cover up for her own behaviour.
