Ferguson Protests Met With Heavy Police Response, 2 Reporters And Alderman Arrested

Police violence broke out again in Ferguson, Missouri, Wednesday night, as the streets filled with tear gas, rubber bullets, heavily-armed SWAT teams and mine-resistant vehicles on the fourth night of unrest since Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teenager, was shot to death by police on Aug. 9.

Mostly peaceful protesters in the St. Louis suburb, symbolically holding their hands in the air, were met with tear gas and smoke bombs fired so regularly that several reporters on scene noted it was hard to breathe. “Shit, shit,” shoutedmsnbc.com’smaine Lee, as his network attempted to reach him amid an onslaught late in the evening. Stun grenades were fired, and police wearing camouflage fatigues and riot gear formed lines in the streets.

A group of at least 70 heavily armed SWAT officers with armored vehicles responded to an apparently peaceful protest Wednesday afternoon and ordered the crowd to disperse, HuffPost’s Ryan J. Reilly reported. The sight of camouflaged officers training automatic weapons at unarmed civilians focused unprecedented attention on the increasing militarization of policing in America.

Reporters saw an unidentified man screaming for medical assistance in the back of a police truck. Police on the scene ignored his cries for help.

On Thursday afternoon, President Barack Obama addressed the situation in remarks from Martha’s Vineyard, where he is on vacation. He also weighed in on the topic of heavy-handed police tactics. “There is never an excuse for violence against police or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism and looting,” Obama said. “There’s also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights.”

He said he had asked the Department of Justice and the FBI to launch an investigation into Michael Brown’s death.

 

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