International Shia News Agency

Chaos and confrontation on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Violence flared up once again into anger, chaos and confrontation on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, as police fired tear gas and stun grenades into the air sending protesters fleeing for cover and gasping for breath. Now in its second week, the protests started by the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer, Darren Wilson, show no sign of abating even after attempts by officials to use various tactics to stop the violence.

Captain Ron Johnson, the State Trooper appointed by Governor Nixon to restore order to the community said: “In my gut, in my soul, I feel that tonight is going to be better.” But by the end of the night Capt Johnson said that two people had been shot, 31 protesters arrested and that police had come under ‘heavy gunfire” during the course of the night.

“These criminal acts came from a tiny minority of law-breakers,” he said. “It is criminals who throw Molotov cocktails, fire shots and endanger lives. These are not acts of protesters but acts of violence.” Earlier, President Barack Obama had said during a White House press conference that he had urged Governor Nixon strictly to limit the involvement of the National Guard to avoid further inflaming community resentment.

President Obama, who said he had directed the Attorney General, Eric Holder, to visit Ferguson personally on Wednesday, urged all sides to work for calm. “While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving in to that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos,” he said.  “It undermines, rather than advancing, justice.”

The fresh protests followed the release by lawyers for Mr Brown’s family of the preliminary results of a privately conducted autopsy of the victim suggesting he had been shot six times. The trajectory of one bullet, from the top of the head and out one eye, was seen by some to corroborate claims that the young man had been trying to surrender when hit by the fatal shot.  A wound to an arm may also fit with his having had his arms raised at the time, though the private pathologists said they could not say for certain.  Two more autopsies are pending from St Louis and also federal authorities.

Source: The Independent

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