Demonstrators attempt to stop masked individuals from entering a store that had been broken into, during on-going demonstrations to protest against the shooting of Michael Brown
After a day of
peaceful demonstrations, violence
flared overnight in Ferguson, Missouri, six days after an unarmed teenager was gunned down by police for jaywalking.
According to early reports:
For most of Friday night, a festive atmosphere reigned in Ferguson as hundreds of people lined a two-block stretch of West Florissant Avenue, waving at honking cars slowly passing by, but shortly after midnight, the situation turned volatile as police showed up in riot gear.
Several dozen protesters stood in the middle of West Florissant Avenue screaming at a line of police vehicles about a block away when suddenly some of them broke away and began looting stores. [...]
Other protesters eventually lined up in front of the market, keeping looters from returning.
Obviously tensions are still running high in Ferguson, and who can blame them? After the guarded optimism that greeted
the news that Ferguson and St. Louis County Police Departments were relieved of security command, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson wasted no time in
launching a smear campaign against Michael Brown, first
suggesting the shooter, Officer Darren Wilson, was attempting to apprehend a violent suspect in a convenience store robbery when he shot and killed Brown, before
later admitting that:
... the officer who stopped Brown did not stop him in connection with the alleged robbery. Brown was stopped, Jackson says, "Because he was walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic. That was it."
Yes, that was it. That and a dead, unarmed teenager, a corrupt police department, and the people of Ferguson being expected to rely on them to "Serve and Protect."