Wesley Lowery: With Highway Patrol, hugs and kisses replace tear gas in Ferguson

[cal04]

(snip)
The heavy riot armor, the SWAT trucks with sniper posts, the hostile glares: tonight in Ferguson they were gone.

A stunning change in tone radiated through the suburban streets where protests had turned violent each of the last four evenings following the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

But Thursday night, when more than a thousand protesters descended on the remains of QuickTrip – which was burned during riots on Sunday – they had a new leader.

(snip)
Not only did Johnson march with the protesters, but he vowed to not blockade the street, to set up a media staging center, and to ensure that residents’ rights to assemble and protest were not infringed upon. Officers working crowd control, he said, have been told they must take off their gas masks.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/14/with-highway-patrol-hugs-and-kisses-replace-tear-gas-in-ferguson/

https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery
my latest: MAJOR change in police tone as Cpt. Ron Johnson, a Ferguson native, takes command

[uponit7771]

1. Blessed are the peacemakers

[Savannahmann]

2. My neighbor asked me what I would do if I was the one in charge.

I said walk to Michael Brown's mother. Tell her how sorry I am that her son is dead, and offer her a hug in compassion. No promises, no nonsense. Human compassion for a fellow human who is suffering. I'm astonished that a cop felt the right thing to do was so blaringly obvious. There may be hope for the police yet.

[geomon666]

3. The tonal shift is amazing

Shame it didn't come a lot sooner.

[Fred Sanders]

5. Fox News tutored Ferguson chief of police was playing out his paranoid fantasies of a war on whites.

That man needs to be fired and then arrested for civil rights violations. For starters.

The tone changed because the hate was replaced with trust.

[Cha]

4. Finally! Thankfully! Mahalo, cal~

[NightWatcher]

6. and the white militant swat officers are home beating off to Rambo

Funny how when the cops don't show up looking for shit there isn't any.