Outside Ferguson, people on social media put their hands up, rally around #DontShoot

After eyewitnesses claimed that the Ferguson teen had his hands up when the fatal bullet was shot, protesters have latched on to the simple pose, posting pictures of themselves on social media with their hands-up  and holding signs that say “hands up, don’t shoot.”

On Wednesday, roughly 300 students from Howard University, a historically black university in Washington D.C., posed with their hands up. The picture, posted to Twitter with the hashtag “#DontShoot,” quickly went viral.

According to a student who organized the picture, the purpose of the photo was “(t)o show that even our innocence is threatening.”

It wasn’t just in D.C. People from around the country started sending in their own pictures.

In New York’s Times Square

In New Orleans, La.

In San Diego, Calif.

In Tallahassee, Fla.

In Columbus, Ohio

In Charlotte, N.C.

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CORRECTION: A previous version of this story mistakenly listed the state abbreviation of Mississippi, not Missouri. It has been changed.