Rival rallies — one demanding justice for the unarmed black teenager shot two weeks ago by a white police officer and the other in support of that officer — brought a flood of people to the streets of a Missouri town on Saturday.
However, authorities in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, where Michael Brown was killed on Aug. 9, said the night was the most peaceful in two weeks of racially charged protests — some of them violent — over the 18-year-old’s death.
Brown’s funeral, set to take place today, is likely to be a focal point for more demonstrations by angry citizens demanding that Darren Wilson, the policeman who pulled the trigger, be brought to justice.
Photo: AFP
There have been few signs of the protests spreading to other parts of the US, although a rally was held in New York and weekend “peace festivals” planned in St Louis.
Parallels have been drawn between Brown’s case and that of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed African-American teenager shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida in 2012.
Martin’s father, Tracy, was in Ferguson on Saturday to address an event.
Protesters are also angry at the hardline police response to early demonstrations, with authorities using battle-grade hardware bought under federal programs from the US military.
US President Barack Obama on Saturday ordered a review to determine “whether these programs are appropriate,” if police training with the equipment is sufficient and whether there is enough federal oversight of the gear’s use.
However, there has also been support here for Wilson, who has gone underground since shooting Brown at least six times.
“Until you know the facts, you have no idea the situation he’s in,” said Beth Zeiner, an insurance reviewer wearing a blue T-shirt with an “Officer Darren Wilson” badge on it. “His life is also destroyed. There are so many factors, but it has been one-sided from what we have seen.”
She said that many businesses had suffered greatly after days of looting and may never recover.
“It’s time that we all try to work together instead of always putting a wedge into things with races,” Zeiner said.
House cleaner Laura, who did not want to give her last name, also wore a T-shirt in support of Wilson.
“I don’t think there is any possibility of a fair trial at this point, because, basically, [the policeman] has been tried already by the media and by the public, and by people who have allowed their emotions to overrule any reason that they may have,” she said.
Sandra Fifer, a middle-aged woman who has been protesting on the main thoroughfare of West Florissant Avenue this past week, said protesters feel African Americans are treated unequally.
In Staten Island, New York City, thousands demonstrated to protest the death of a black man placed in a chokehold by police — seen on an amateur video.
Eric Garner, 43, a father of six was wrestled to the ground by several white police officers after resisting arrest on July 17.
Garner, who was obese and asthmatic and repeatedly complained he could not breathe, lost consciousness and was pronounced dead of a heart attack after being transferred to hospital.
“This is always happening in our community. Everyone has the right to feel safe,” mother-of-three Tricia Mackmenbourgh said. “Ferguson, Staten Island, that’s all tied in.”
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