“It undermines rather than advanc justice.”Įarlier on Monday, it was revealed that the White House had not been given advance warning of Nixon’s decision to call out the Missouri national guard, something Obama did not deny when asked about the deployment. “While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving in to that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos,” said the president in a White House address that interrupted his two-week vacation. But he also accused some protesters of “stirring chaos” and declined to answer whether he would be visiting the city himself. He acknowledged the feelings of alienation felt by many young African Americans in the US: “In too many communities around this country young men of color are left behind and seen as objects of fear,” he said. He struck a more detached tone over the root causes of violence. Obama, speaking from the White House, called for a review of the use of military equipment by local police forces, warning that a continued blurring of the lines between military and local law enforcement would be “contrary to our traditions”.
The Missouri governor, Jay Nixon, struggling to find an effective response to the protests that have rocked Ferguson since the shooting of Brown, has abandoned a controversial and ineffective curfew that failed to prevent violence. “We can’t send officers in squad cars in areas where they’re shooting bullets. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesĬonway defended the use of militarised force. Several journalists were detained, apparently for unlawful assembly. Journalists were unable to monitor the scenes after being ordered to a command centre about a mile away. The fiercest clashes took place near the site where a police officer, Darren Wilson, shot Brown. “That element that has been causing havoc got within the peaceful protest.” Two people were shot and were taken to hospital, he said. Provocateurs had again infiltrated a legitimate protest, Ron Conway, a highway patrol captain who commands policing in Ferguson, told CNN. Unidentified gunmen opened fire, triggering volleys of police stun grenades and teargas. Initially police made limited interventions: snatch squads bolted forwards to grab and haul away certain individuals, a new tactic in Ferguson.īut more serious trouble flared 500 metres away at the site of a burned convenience store where dozens of youths, some with covered faces, ripped up street signs and taunted police. They begged the officers to not intervene: “Relax, we’ve got this, give us a chance.” When rowdy youths threw bottles of water at police, volunteers formed a line and herded them back, away from police. More than a thousand people, including dozens of Pentecostal ministers, marched without incident under the gaze of police with helmets and shields. Monday’s protest remained peaceful until about 10pm.
Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images It is the first time the national guard has been deployed to quell civil unrest in the United States since the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.Ī demonstrator protects himself from teargas at the protest. He also dispatched the attorney general, Eric Holder, to monitor events and said he would be watching whether troops were “helping or hindering the situation”. Hours earlier Barack Obama distanced himself from the decision to deploy the national guard. “And I am not going to let criminals who come here from across the country or live in this community define this neighbourhood.” “We’re going to make this neighbourhood whole, we’re going to make this community whole, and we’re going to do it together,” said Johnson, close to tears. He said officers had acted with restraint against “criminal acts by a tiny minority of lawbreakers”.Īdding that police had at one point come under gunfire, and that several officers had been injured by rocks and bottles, Johnson urged peaceful protesters from now on to limit their demonstrations to daytime and not give cover to criminals at night. Johnson made an impassioned defence of the scale of the police response, which has come under sharp criticism. Photograph: David Carson/Polaris/eyevine Photograph: David Carson/Polaris / eyevine Police fire tear gas in the direction of where bottles were thrown from crowds gathered near the QuikTrip.
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