News Digest

Hundreds of people in Missouri join protest of police shooting

Hundreds of demonstrators stood within touching distance of officers in riot gear Friday before dissipating at the start of what was expected to be a weekend of protests over the 2-month-old death of Michael Brown and other fatal police shootings that activists say are racially motivated. Organizers of the four-day Ferguson October events expected 6,000 participants. The initial protest Friday outside a St. Louis County prosecutor’s office didn’t draw nearly that amount. Later, tensions increased, with protesters outside the Ferguson Police Department chanting anti-police remarks such as, “How many kids did you kill today?” A wall of about 100 officers in riot gear stood near them. The St. Louis County Police Department announced that it would arrest anyone who touched an officer. Most of the crowd soon left, with organizers urging people to avoid arrest so that they could come back for more protests throughout the weekend.

It’s important for this country to stand with this community. This community is under siege. … The eyes of the world are watching.

Protester Ellen Davidson of New York City, who was making her second trip to the St. Louis area since Brown’s death.

Protesters renewed their call for prosecutor Bob McCulloch to charge Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, in the Aug. 9 death of 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed. A grand jury is reviewing the case, and the U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Brown’s death and a broader inquiry into the Ferguson police force. Police in Clayton reported no arrests, and officers escorted the several hundred demonstrators as they marched. Tensions remain high after another black 18-year-old’s shooting death by a white police officer Wednesday night in St. Louis. Police say Vonderrit D. Myers shot at the officer, who was in uniform but working off-duty for a private neighbourhood security patrol. Myers’ parents say he was unarmed.