About 200 demonstrators, some waving flags, beating drums, and
shouting anti-police slogans, marched along a street that was a
flashpoint of riots that erupted last year after white police
officer Darren Wilson killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Police carrying shields rushed into a crowd of protesters around
midnight, prompting many to scream and run away. Twenty-three people
were arrested, some for throwing frozen water bottles and rocks at
officers, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.
Authorities declared a state of emergency on Monday for the St.
Louis suburb and surrounding areas after police officers shot and
critically wounded a man in an exchange of gunfire Sunday night,
marring what had been a day of peaceful demonstrations to
commemorate the anniversary.
Ferguson resident Roberta Lynch, 51, one of the demonstrators on
Monday evening, said relations between police and the community had
improved little over the past year.
"They are doing the same old stuff, taking our rights," Lynch said.
"They need to give us our space."
Monday's demonstrations capped a day of civil disobedience called by
activists to protest against the shooting of Brown and other unarmed
black men by police across the United States.
Clergy and civil rights groups led a series of protests, staging a
demonstration at a courthouse in St. Louis where 60 people were
arrested, including Princeton University professor and activist
Cornel West, according to a protest organizer.
Police arrested several dozen other protesters who blocked rush-hour
traffic on Interstate 70 a few miles from Ferguson hours later,
according to a Reuters witness.
The death of Brown and a grand jury's decision to spare the white
officer from criminal charges provoked a wave of demonstrations that
boiled over into rioting and arson at times and spawned sympathy
rallies across the country.
Brown's death also prompted greater scrutiny of racial bias within
the U.S. criminal justice system, giving rise to the "Black Lives
Matter" movement that gained momentum from similar incidents in
cities such as New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and,
most recently, Arlington, Texas..
'MARRED BY VIOLENCE'
In Ferguson, tensions rose after darkness fell on Monday, with some
demonstrators throwing objects at officers who pushed back with
shields. Small unmanned aerial drones circled above the crowd. It
was unclear who was flying the drones.
Others protesters called for calm on the streets. By early morning,
most people had vacated areas where confrontations had occurred and
police reopened streets to traffic.
There were no shots fired, looting or property damage and no
injuries were reported by police or civilians, the St. Louis County
Police Department said.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters police would
give protesters leeway to march but said the authorities also had to
maintain public safety.
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"We are going to let them vent and we are going to manage it the
best we possibly can. Last night was pretty out of control at times.
Unfortunately, all the good work that's happening on both sides of
the street has been marred by violence."
The violence, according to Belmar, erupted Sunday when two groups of
agitators apparently began shooting at each other, disrupting what
had been peaceful demonstrations. At one point, a gunman darted
across a parking lot and was confronted by four officers who pulled
up in an unmarked vehicle.
The officers wounded the suspect critically in an exchange of
gunfire, according to police.
Prosecutors charged the man, Tyrone Harris with four counts of
assault on law enforcement, five counts of armed criminal action,
and one count of shooting at a vehicle. His bond was set at
$250,000.
Harris's father said his son, who was hospitalized, did not have a
gun. "He was running for his ... life because someone was shooting
at him," Tyrone Harris, Sr., said in a telephone interview from his
St. Louis-area home.
The younger Harris was out on bond awaiting trial on charges from
November of stealing a motor vehicle, theft of a firearm and
resisting arrest.
Activist groups said the plainclothes officers who shot Harris
should never have been deployed to the scene.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon called Sunday's violence "a sad turn of
events."
Michael Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr., said on Facebook that the
peaceful weekend protests were "meaningful, inspiring and successful
... With your support, we properly honored your friend and my son's
memory."
Protester Rayna Martin, 17, who lives in the neighborhood where
Brown was shot, said the violence within her community has been made
worse by the actions of police. "They kill us, they get away with
it. It's crazy," she said.
(Additional reporting by Lucas Jackson in Ferguson, Missouri, Mary
Wisniewski and Fiona Ortiz in Chicago and Brendan O'Brien in
Milwaukee; Writing by Jon Herskovitz, Eric M. Johnson and Victoria
Cavaliere; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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