BOSTON (CBS/AP) – A small group of demonstrators showed up at Moakley Federal Courthouse in South Boston on Wednesday to show support for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Tsarnaev appeared in court for his first public hearing. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260.

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A group of about a dozen supporters cheered as the motorcade carrying Tsarnaev arrived at the courthouse. The demonstrators yelled “Justice for Jahar,” as Tsarnaev is known. One woman held a sign that said, “Free Jahar.”

Others held signs claiming Tsarnaev’s innocence, while suggesting elaborate conspiracies surrounding the bombing and Tsarnaev’s arrest.

“I’m here to show Dzhokhar support, to let him know there are thousands of people worldwide that do believe his innocence,” Mary Churback of Freetown told WBZ-TV news.

Lacey Buckley, 23, said she traveled from her home in Wenatchee, Wash., to attend the arraignment. Buckley said she has never met Tsarnaev but came because she believes he’s innocent. “I just think so many of his rights were violated. They almost murdered an unarmed kid in a boat,” she said.

Brittney Gillis, a student at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev attended, came to the courthouse because she wanted to see the suspect. She said he used to walk her friend home in the evenings because he was worried about her being alone.

“He would walk her from the campus library to her dorm at night,” she said.

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