 |
CreditWhitney Curtis for The New York Times
|
THE GUARDIAN
A heavily armed, militarised police force fired teargas and rubber bullets to force hundreds of protesters out of the centre of a small Missouri town on Wednesday, as a crackdown on demonstrations over the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old intensified.
Dozens of officers, some carrying assault rifles, advanced with a pair of armoured trucks on the young and predominantly African American crowd in Fergsuon, after two glass bottles were thrown at their lines from a largely peaceful protest against the shooting of Michael Brown, who was black, by an officer from the city's overwhelmingly white police department.
For hours, police snipers trained their weapons on demonstrators who protested with their hands up as an emblem of peaceful protest. When events escalated on a fourth night of tension in this city of just 21,000 people, protesters described being subjected to military-style tactics as they fled through gas-filled residential side-streets.
Police clearing the main drag of Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, also arrested two reporters, including one from the Washington Post. Marty Baron, its editor, condemned the arrest as "an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news". The Huffington Post, whose reporter was also detained, said the journalists were subjected to "militant aggression" and treated as "enemy combatants". A camera crew from al-Jazeera America said they were shot by rubber bullets.
 |
| Demonstrators raise their hands while protesting against the killing of teenager Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday. Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters |
The protests have at times turned violent: Stores have been looted, and at least one business was set on fire. The police have made more than 40 arrests and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators.
A gathering on Tuesday night turned into another skirmish with police officers, who used tear gas to disperse the remnants of a bigger crowd.
During a peaceful protest march on Tuesday to the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office in Clayton, Mo., the seat of St. Louis County, demonstrators chanted “Don’t shoot!” and raised their hands over their heads — the pose they say Mr. Brown was in when he was shot. The police say Mr. Brown hit the officer and tried to steal his gun; Mr. Brown’s family and friends deny that.
In an interview on Tuesday with MSNBC, Dorian Johnson, a friend of Mr. Brown’s, gave a description of the shooting. He said that he and Mr. Brown had been walking in the street when an officer drove up and told them to get onto the sidewalk. The two stayed in the street after telling the officer that they were close to Mr. Johnson’s house. The officer, who had passed them, then backed up, almost hitting them in doing so. He then tried to open his door, which hit Mr. Brown, and when the door bounced shut, the officer reached out and grabbed Mr. Brown.
“Mike was trying to get away from being choked,” Mr. Johnson told MSNBC.
Mr. Johnson said that he and Mr. Brown began to run, and while he ducked behind a car, Mr. Brown kept going. At that point, he said, the officer pulled a gun and fired, and then shot repeatedly, striking him, as he tried to run away. After Mr. Brown was shot a second time, Mr. Johnson said, he turned to face the officer with his hands up. The officer fired several more shots, and Mr. Brown fell. Mr. Brown “did not reach for the officer’s weapon at all,” he said.
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer representing the Brown family, said Tuesday that Mr. Johnson had yet to be called in for qu estioning by the police and wanted to speak only to federal authorities.
The officer has still not been named. St Louis County police are investigating. The F.B.I. has opened a civil rights inquiry into the shooting, and the case is being investigated by the St. Louis County Police. The results of an autopsy on Mr. Brown have not been released.
 |
| CreditWhitney Curtis for The New York Times |
Police militarisation has been among the most consequential and unnoticed developments of our time, and it is now beginning to affect press freedom," said Ryan Grim, the Huffington Post's Washington bureau chief.
At least 10 people were arrested in all, according to police, including Antonio French, a St Louis city alderman who had been observing the protests and covering them on social media. French was reportedly charged with unlawful assembly.At 8.40pm, at the other end of West Florissant, two bottles smashing prompted a furious reaction from the police line. Protesters were warned over a Tannoy to leave the area immediately or be arrested. "Your peaceful protest is no longer peaceful," the police voice said.
When the protesters refused to retreat, a high-pitched siren blared from a police Swat truck and several canisters of teargas were fired towards the crowd in quick succession. "Return to your vehicles, return to your homes," the police Tannoy said. Yet protesters regrouped, linked arms and continued to chant at the police, some screaming obscenities.
 |
| A riot police officer aims his weapon during demonstrations over the shooting of Michael Brown. Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters |
At 9.08pm, a barrage of gas canisters and flashbangs were shot at the crowds, prompting chaos. Many protesters ran south down Lang Drive. But, even as they fled, the police line continued to fire gas canisters and crackers in their direction. No one could be seen throwing anything at the officers.
Some canisters landed and emitted plumes of smoke in the front gardens of residents as they sat inside their homes. Others hit cars and trucks as people tried to escape.
Rubber bullets were fired at people who remained on West Florissant. One young man, who had his arms aloft in the "hands up – don't shoot" gesture that has come to define these protests, was shot several times. After he fell to the ground, he was pounced on by several officers.
"They hit me on the hand with a teargas bomb," said Tony Giegers, 27. "It exploded on me kind of like buckshot. It sprayed everywhere. It hit me there on my hand and burned my hand. It's burning right now, it's burning up." His friend DeJuan, 19, said he was struck in the right leg.
A highly visible camera crew for al-Jazeera America reporting on the clashes said that they, too, were shot at with rubber bullets. The Guardian watched as a gas canister was fired directly at them as they attempted to record a piece to camera. The crew and their presenter fled.
"The police are responding with force, which you can understand to a certain degree," said Justin, a 29-year-old protester. "But this amount of force was unwarranted. This is an abuse of force. No one is firing guns at them or running at them. This is an overreach.
 |
| Riot police stand guard at the protests. Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters |
This is getting out of control. It's like a military action."
"They militarised the police in this small county in Missouri," said a man who gave his name as Kevvy. "They got military trucks and people coming in from all over the state just for a protest at something they did."
Brian Schellman, a spokesman for St Louis County police, told the Guardian at the law enforcement command centre late on Wednesday that chiefs would review tactics after the night's events. "Our commanders are definitely going to review and see if we can do something better," he said. However Schellman said that the officers involved "acted with great restraint". "Bottles were being thrown at them; we had molotov cocktails being thrown; we had a police officer break an ankle from a thrown brick. So when the assaults start coming on police officers that's the measures that are taken. We don't wanna have to use gas on anybody."