Turmoil, tear gas give way to hope in Ferguson
Source: AP-Excite
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — County police in riot gear and armored tanks gave way to state troopers walking side-by-side with thousands of protesters as the St. Louis suburb where an unarmed black teen was shot by a city police officer overwhelmingly avoided violence Thursday after nearly a week of unrest and mounting public tension.
The dramatic shift came after Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon assigned oversight of the protests to the state Highway Patrol, stripping local police from the St. Louis County Police Department of their authority after four days of clashes with furious crowds protesting the weekend death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
"All they did was look at us and shoot tear gas," said Pedro Smith, 41, who has participated in the nightly protests. "This is totally different. Now we're being treated with respect."
The more tolerant response came as President Barack Obama spoke publicly for the first time about Saturday's fatal shooting — and the subsequent violence that shocked the nation and threatened to tear apart Ferguson, a town of 21,000 that is nearly 70 percent black and patrolled by a nearly all-white police force.
FULL story at link.
Many people drove down the street honking their horns, raising their arms, and holding signs on W. Florissant in Ferguson on Thursday evening, Aug. 14, 2014, as some demonstrators stood in the middle of the street. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, J.B. Forbes)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140815/us--police_shooting-missouri-e79a3343e5.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
now please give that young man the justice he deserves.
