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 Throughout the night, as many as 400 demonstrators spread out
across several city blocks in south St. Louis, angrily shouting and
chanting at rows of police officers, many of whom were clad in riot
gear.
Dozens of protesters had met earlier at the site in the Shaw
neighborhood where 18-year-old Vonderrit Myers Jr. was shot dead on
Wednesday by an off-duty white officer working for a private
security firm in what police described as a firefight.
But demonstrations grew increasingly chaotic. At one point early on
Friday morning, a line of police pushed toward a group of several
dozen protesters who jeered and cursed at them, pepper-spraying
those who refused to disperse.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson told local television station Fox
2 that at one point during the tense protest, someone behind the
massive crowd threw a knife that struck an officer's body vest at
the shoulder.
He added that a police car and several businesses and residences had
been damaged and that U.S. flags were burned. Two people had been
arrested by midnight local time, Dotson said, during which one
officer suffered minor injuries.
The St. Louis area is bracing for further unrest over the killing of
Brown by a white police officer two months ago, with Myers' death on
Wednesday expected to add fuel to the fire.
Several civil rights organizations and protest groups, including
Hands Up United, planned to mark the weekend with marches and
rallies in St. Louis and the suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, where
Brown was killed.
The groups are demanding the arrest of the officer who killed Brown,
and want to draw attention to police treatment of black Americans.
Protest organizers said they are planning only peaceful activities,
but fear that Wednesday's killing of the black teen might trigger
violent outbursts.
"We never advocate violence ... But I do know that people were angry
last night and they will be out this weekend," said Tory Russell, a
leader of Hands Up United. "I don't know what they are going to do."
At least 6,000 have registered on an organizing website for the
"weekend of resistance" events in and around Ferguson, which kick
off on Friday with a "Justice Now" march to the office of St. Louis
County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch.
The weekend is to be capped with actions of "civil disobedience" on
Monday.
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Organizers said they are also planning to create a "memory altar" to
victims of police violence and to hold a candlelight march carrying
a coffin to the Ferguson Police Department.
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said law enforcement officers
throughout the area are planning for large crowds and possible
violence.
"There are a lot of people coming into town," said Knowles. "We are
going to be prepared. There is intel out there that there are people
wanting to do bad things. And people who want to cause a problem are
going to use that (the shooting on Wednesday) as a rallying cry," he
said.
The police department would not identify the 32-year-old officer who
shot Myers. Police said Myers fired multiple times at the officer,
before the officer returned 17 shots and fatally wounded him.
The officer was not hurt and was placed on administrative leave as
the shooting is investigated, police said.
Relatives of Myers said he did not have a gun, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch reported.
The shooting sparked protests that raged until dawn on Thursday. One
person was arrested and several police vehicles were damaged in the
unrest, police officials said.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Mo.; Editing by Catherine
Evans)
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