Protests near St Louis on Saturday turned violent for the second night in reaction to the acquittal of a white former police officer in the fatal shooting of a black man, as a small group of demonstrators refused to disperse, breaking windows at dozens of businesses and throwing objects at police, who moved in with hundreds of officers in riot gear to make arrests.
The confrontation took place in the Delmar Loop area of University City, a suburb about 16km west of St Louis near Washington University.
University City had been the scene of a tense, but calm march earlier in the evening to protest a judge’s ruling on Friday clearing ex-officer Jason Stockley of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith.
Photo: AFP
That march ended with organizers calling for people to leave and reconvene yesterday afternoon.
However, a few dozen protesters refused to go. Police ordered them to disperse, saying the protest was unlawful. Hundreds of police in riot gear eventually moved in with armored vehicles. The demonstrators retreated down a street, breaking windows with trash cans and throwing objects at police.
Several protesters were seen in handcuffs and city and county police said on Twitter that they arrested nine people. Police in riot gear were seen carrying one man away from the scene upside-down in handcuffs. At least one demonstrator was treated after he was hit with pepper spray.
After the spasm of violence ended, a reporter found at least half of the businesses on one side of the street with broken windows along a two-block area.
Sam Thomas, who was helping his friend clean up the glass from the shattered windows of his business, said he understands why people are angry.
The US justice system is broken and needs to be fixed, he said.
“I’m not saying this is the right way to fix it,” he said of the damage. “The window isn’t murdered. Nobody is going to have a funeral for the window. We can replace it.”
The eruption late on Saturday followed a day of non-violent demonstrations at suburban shopping malls.
Demonstrators shouted slogans such as “black lives matter” and “it is our duty to fight for our freedom” as they marched through West County Center mall in the city of Des Peres, west of St Louis. A group also demonstrated at Chesterfield Mall in the suburbs and at a regional food festival.
Organizers took their grievances to the suburbs to spread the effect of the protests beyond predominantly black neighborhoods to those that are mainly white.
“I don’t think racism is going to change in America until people get uncomfortable,” said Kayla Reed of the St Louis Action Council, a protest organizer.
Federal prosecutors on Saturday said they would not open a new civil rights investigation into the killing.
US Department of Justice spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam said the department decided not to prosecute, but did not announce it to avoid affecting the judge’s decision.
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