Ferguson Protests Spark More Than Dozen Arrests
By MATTHEW DOLAN CONNECT
Nov. 29, 2014 1:01 a.m. ET
Wall Street Journal
FERGUSON, Mo.—After a peaceable holiday, protesters still angered by the death of a young black man here last summer spilled into the frigid streets Friday, prompting police to arrest 15 demonstrators.
The band of protesters surged into the street in front of the Ferguson Police Department around 10:30 p.m. after being warned by police and members of the Missouri National Guard they could be arrested for blocking traffic on violation of state law. Police then plunged into the crowd of about 75 as protesters chanted their opposition to alleged police abuse and recorded the episode with cellphone cameras. Several people were pulled out, handcuffed with plastic ties and walked away into custody. These were the first arrests in the protests since Wednesday, according to authorities.
As midnight approached, the crowd shrank to less than two dozen and police stepped back behind a barricade in front of the municipal complex.
Earlier in the night, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he would call a special session of the state legislature to provide “critical” funding for the National Guard and Highway Patrol still on patrol in Ferguson after fiery riots earlier this week.
Gov. Nixon said the ramped-up presence of the state’s National Guard and Highway Patrol is soon expected to exceed the current funding for emergency duties. The governor earlier this week faced criticism for failing to deploy enough guardsmen to control protests that eventually led to widespread looting and arson.
The announcement followed a major disruption of holiday shopping in the St. Louis area earlier Friday. Several hundred protesters swarmed at least three local malls in a Black Friday protest of the lack of an indictment in the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. They originally gathered in Clayton, Mo., the same St. Louis suburb where the grand jury met for months.
The midday peaceful demonstration against the holiday shopping led mall officials in Richmond Heights to ask stores to shut their doors at least temporarily to hundreds if not thousands of shoppers. But there were no arrests there, police said.
The new protests followed a relatively calm Thanksgiving for nearby Ferguson, which had been battered by looting, fires and mayhem after the grand jury announcement Monday night that did not return charges against the officer who shot Mr. Brown to death.
Write to Matthew Dolan at matthew.dolan@wsj.com
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| 12 arrests were made outside the police station in Ferguson on Nov. 28, 2014 just four days after a grand jury refused to find probable cause for filing charges against officer Darren Wilson. |
Nov. 29, 2014 1:01 a.m. ET
Wall Street Journal
FERGUSON, Mo.—After a peaceable holiday, protesters still angered by the death of a young black man here last summer spilled into the frigid streets Friday, prompting police to arrest 15 demonstrators.
The band of protesters surged into the street in front of the Ferguson Police Department around 10:30 p.m. after being warned by police and members of the Missouri National Guard they could be arrested for blocking traffic on violation of state law. Police then plunged into the crowd of about 75 as protesters chanted their opposition to alleged police abuse and recorded the episode with cellphone cameras. Several people were pulled out, handcuffed with plastic ties and walked away into custody. These were the first arrests in the protests since Wednesday, according to authorities.
As midnight approached, the crowd shrank to less than two dozen and police stepped back behind a barricade in front of the municipal complex.
Earlier in the night, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he would call a special session of the state legislature to provide “critical” funding for the National Guard and Highway Patrol still on patrol in Ferguson after fiery riots earlier this week.
Gov. Nixon said the ramped-up presence of the state’s National Guard and Highway Patrol is soon expected to exceed the current funding for emergency duties. The governor earlier this week faced criticism for failing to deploy enough guardsmen to control protests that eventually led to widespread looting and arson.
The announcement followed a major disruption of holiday shopping in the St. Louis area earlier Friday. Several hundred protesters swarmed at least three local malls in a Black Friday protest of the lack of an indictment in the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. They originally gathered in Clayton, Mo., the same St. Louis suburb where the grand jury met for months.
The midday peaceful demonstration against the holiday shopping led mall officials in Richmond Heights to ask stores to shut their doors at least temporarily to hundreds if not thousands of shoppers. But there were no arrests there, police said.
The new protests followed a relatively calm Thanksgiving for nearby Ferguson, which had been battered by looting, fires and mayhem after the grand jury announcement Monday night that did not return charges against the officer who shot Mr. Brown to death.
Write to Matthew Dolan at matthew.dolan@wsj.com
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