August 14, 2014 7:49 am
US police clash with protesters after black teenager’s killing
US police fired tear gas, smoke bombs, rubber bullets and flash grenades on Wednesday at hundreds of people protesting against the recent killing of an unarmed black teenager by a law-enforcement officer.
Ferguson, a predominantly African-American suburb of St Louis, Missouri has been the scene of daily protests and unrest since Saturday, when a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, a recent high-school graduate.
The shooting has exposed deep racial tensions in St Louis and highlighted the fraught relationship between authorities and the black community throughout the country.
According to the St Louis Post-Dispatch, a bottle was thrown at police on Wednesday night after they had given protesters “several verbal warnings to leave the area” or face arrest. The police then threw sound grenades into the crowd and deployed tear gas.
The events trended on Twitter as updates and pictures circulated of protesters fleeing through smoke-filled streets. Police ordered news crews to stop filming and two reporters, Wesley Lowrey of the Washington Post and Ryan J Reilly of the Huffington Post, were arrested though released shortly after.
Throughout the week protesters have confronted law enforcement officers with their hands held high, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot” – what witnesses say Brown said before being shot.
Police tactics – from the shooting of Brown to the response on subsequent nights – have come under criticism from local people, politicians, on Twitter and in the media, and have underscored concerns about the “militarisation” of US law enforcement.
Local police, clad in military fatigues and riot gear, have aimed high-powered rifles at protesters and deployed armoured vehicles similar to those used in war zones.
For the past five nights, police have cordoned off portions of the 20,000-person town, flooding the area with officers as helicopters hovered overhead.
Local people such as Edward Redden, 26, describe a history of tension between the predominantly white police force – of 53 officers only three are black – and the 70 per cent black community.
“As a young black man, I know what it’s like to walk down the street,” Mr Redden said after a rally in a church on Tuesday. “I have always felt the tension and racism – it needs to stop.”
A riot broke out after a candlelit vigil on Sunday, with shops in the town’s main street looted and burnt. Police arrested 32 people.
On Monday, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a civil rights inquiry into the shooting, police confronted protesters with tear gas, amid reports of more looting.
Police have said Brown was shot during a scuffle with the police officer, whose name they have withheld citing threats to his safety – further exacerbating tensions.
Witnesses, including a friend walking with Brown at the time, say the officer opened fire after the pair would not comply with his order to move out of the middle of the street.
Brown’s family has repeatedly called for peace and calm.
“His life was taken by the very people who were supposed to protect him – that’s why this is so tragic,” Mr Crump said.
On Tuesday Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the Brown family, invoked Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teenager killed by a neighbourhood watch member last year. Mr Crump, who also represented Martin’s family, called for a transparent investigation and said the family would pursue justice for Michael Brown.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014.
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