Nov.
26, 2014: This fake handgun taken from 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was
fatally shot by Cleveland police over the weekend, is displayed after a
news conference Wednesday. The 12-year-old was shot at a city park
after he reportedly pulled the Colt 1911 replica on arriving officers. (AP)
CLEVELAND – The family of a
12-year-old boy fatally wounded by a Cleveland police officer said
surveillance video of the shooting shows that if the officer had not
acted so quickly the youngster would still be alive.
Al-Qaeda militants holding an American journalist in Yemen moved him
and two other foreign hostages just days before a raid to free him, a
Yemeni defence ministry website said.
The journalist as well as a
British national and a South African are among several hostages held by
Al-Qaeda in the violence-wracked country, according to the ministry’s
26Sep.net news website.
People protesting against the Ferguson jury decision took to the
streets in some US cities for a second day, even as others were still
cleaning up vandalism from the night before.
Protesters on Tuesday disrupted traffic for several hours in central
St Louis by blocking major intersections, an interstate highway and a
Mississippi River bridge connecting the city to Illinois.
Riot police arrested at least 40 protesters including several who sat
in the middle of an interstate highway. They used pepper spray to
disperse the crowd.
People are calling for justice after the grand jury ruled not to
indict a white police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager,
Michael Brown. National Guard
Al Jazeera's Daniel Lak, reporting from Ferguson, said that National
Guard soldiers stepped in to assist police with controlling the crowd.
"Some protesters were arrested outside the Ferguson Police Department
after someone in the crowd threw what appeared to be a water bottle at
the lines of police and National Guard soldiers," our correspondent
said.
"Three armoured vehicles moved in and soldiers joined the police for
the first time tonight, shouting at people to move back. National Guard
troops pinned protestors on the ground and a number were put in the back
of a police armoured vehicle."
Elsewhere, police said protesters briefly shut down the Brooklyn
Bridge and one of the three spans of the Robert F Kennedy Bridge,
formerly known as the Triborough Bridge. More than a thousand people
took to the streets in the nation's capital. Rallies were also held on
Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey, Portland, Maine, Baltimore and elsewhere.
"Mike Brown is an emblem (of a movement). This country is at its
boiling point," said Ethan Jury, a protester in Philadelphia, where
hundreds marched. "How many people need to die? How many black people
need to die?" Jury added.
Earlier in the day, Missouri governor, Jay Nixon, ordered more than
2,200 National Guardsmen troops to the region near Ferguson rocked by
rioting.
Meanwhile, in his first public statements during an interview with
ABC News, white police officer Darren Wilson said he has a clean
conscience because "I know I did my job right".
President Barack Obama condemned the violence, saying they are criminal and those responsible should be prosecuted.
But America's first black president said he understands that many
people are upset by the grand jury decision. He said that their
frustration is rooted in a sense that laws are not always being enforced
"uniformly and fairly" in communities of colour.
"Burning buildings, torching cars, destroying property, putting
people at risk ... there's no excuse for it," Obama said.Obama urged
parties aggrieved by events in Ferguson to work peacefully to achieve
change, saying the case had exposed "an American problem".
Lawyers for Michael Brown's family said the process that led to the white officer not being indicted was "unfair and broken".
Benjamin Crump said on Tuesday that the family's legal team objected
to St Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCullough's decision to call a grand
jury in the case and not appoint a special prosecutor.
Speaking at a news conference in Ferguson, where Brown was shot on August 9, Crump also called for protests to remain peaceful.
The events of in Ferguson, Missouri, have shocked the nation — from
the Aug. 9 shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown by a local
police officer to the resulting protests and the heavy-handed response
by law enforcement officials. Here is a timeline of those events, and
the photographs that captured them. Oct. 9-11:
A few thousand protesters participated in a “Justice for All” march in St. Louis on Saturday, one of the largest and most diverse gatherings since activism began over the death of Michael Brown.
Unions, religious groups and student organizations gathered behind
banners as flags and posters bobbed down the street while drums
thundered above a loud din of chants of “Black lives matter! Black lives
matter!”
Peace-keepers and volunteers lined the march route while handfuls of
police officers leaned back on their squad cars serving as barricades
for the protest. But their precautions proved unnecessary because for
the second day in a row the demonstrations remained non-violent.
Over 100 protesters marched peacefully down W. Florissant Ave. in
Ferguson on Friday night carrying a mirrored coffin in Michael Brown’s
honor, kicking off what organizers coined a “Weekend of Resistance,” a
multi-day event designed to pay tribute to the lives of young, black men
who have died at the hands of the police.
When protesters arrived at the Ferguson Police Department on Friday,
they began playing hip-hop music. Some verbally confronted the 20-or-so
police officers standing on the sidelines.
“If you touch a police officer, you will be charged with assault,”
police warned over a megaphone. But the crowd remained mostly calm – a
distinctly lower level of energy than the groups gathered in the days
and weeks here after Brown’s death.
On Thursday, hundreds of protesters marched and chanted
along blocks of St. Louis’s south side, riled by the shooting death of
18-year-old Vonderrit Myers Jr., who was shot and killed Oct. 8. by a
white off-duty police officer. Police say Myers brandished a 9mm pistol
and fired on the officer who then responded with more than a dozen
shots.
Over 100 protesters marched peacefully down W. Florissant Ave. on
Friday night carrying a mirrored coffin in Michael Brown’s honor.
Aug. 26-Early Oct.
Nearly two months after the shooting, tensions in Ferguson were still
notably high, though violent protests and arrests had tapered off. Gov.
Jay Nixon lifted a state of emergency on Sept. 3. Nonetheless, officer
Darren Wilson remained in hiding as the grand jury heard testimony from
him and other witnesses. Protesters continued to call for St. Louis
Prosecutor Robert McCulloch to step down from the investigation,
claiming bias.
On Sept. 25, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson issued a video
apology to Brown’s family. He later tried to join protesters only to
have a scuffle break out.
In early October, demonstrators interrupted a St. Louis Symphony
performance by singing and unfurling banners in support of Michael
Brown. Following that event, supporters of Wilson confronted Brown
supporters at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Insults and chants
were shouted back and forth between the groups.
As Ferguson readies for more protesters, a look back
A look back at what has been happening in Ferguson, in advance of
the forthcoming "weekend of resistance," which comes two months after
Michael Brown's death.
Aug. 25:
Politicians, dignitaries and celebrities gathered inside the Friendly
Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis to pay respect for the
teen. They were joined by the families of other young, unarmed black men
who have been killed by police officers or white gunmen, including the
families of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Oscar Grant.
While speaking at the funeral, Brown family attorney Benjamin Crump
and Rev. Al Sharpton reiterated their calls for justice, and called on
the world to remember the teen for more than just the rioting and
looting that followed his death.
Michael Brown was remembered as an 18-year-old "gentle soul" during his funeral on Monday morning in St. Louis.
Aug. 21-24:
Ferguson saw a string of relatively peaceful nights, with no tear gas
or shootings after Attorney General Eric Holder left the St. Louis
suburb. After returning, he said in a press conference that “this
Department of Justice stands with the people of Ferguson.”
Meanwhile, African-American leaders in Missouri called for the
resignation of Ferguson Mayor James Knowles, and protesters continued to
demand authorities fire Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Brown.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to begin withdrawing
from Ferguson, where they had been in place for a couple days.
The NAACP organized a march, which took place on Saturday, hoping to channel outrage into political action in the community.
On Sunday, Brown’s parents, along with families of Trayvon Martin and
Oscar Grant, came together for “Peace Fest 2014” in Forest Park in St.
Louis, an event hosted by The Trayvon Martin Foundation and Better
Family Life.
Michael Brown Sr. called for a day of peace and calm on the day of the funeral service.
“Tomorrow, all I want is peace while my son is being laid to rest,”
Brown said Sunday. “Please, please take a day of silence so we can lay
our son to rest. Please. That’s all I ask. And thank you.”
Hundreds of people attended the rally, which sought to bring attention to the shootings of young African-American men. Thousands of dollars have been raised for the officer who fatally shot unarmed teen Brown through a crowdfunding website created at the beginning of the week.
Thursday marked a turning point in what would become a string of relatively peaceful nights in Ferguson, Missouri.
Aug. 19-20:
In what Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson called a “turning
point” for Ferguson, the city saw a calmer night of protests with no
bullets or tear gas fired, although some bottles were thrown around
midnight, leading officers to don protective gear. By 1 a.m. early
Wednesday morning, there were 47 arrests and two handguns seized.
Aug. 18:
Ferguson was once again wracked by violence and chaos overnight
Monday – the first night since the end of a police-imposed curfew – as
police fired tear gas at protesters amid the sound of explosions. Shots
rang out and armored police trucks sped down Florissant Avenue. At least
two people, both males, were shot “in the dark of night,” Capt. Ron
Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said at a press conference.
Two guns and a Molotov cocktail were confiscated. There were two fires,
one at a local business and another at an unoccupied residence, Johnson
said. Police were hit with bottles and rocks. Seventy-eight people were
arrested overnight. Two journalists were reportedly taken into police
custody overnight and a Getty photographer was detained and later
released.
Earlier in the evening Monday, the mood was calm. But as the hour
grew later, the community of Ferguson was once again convulsed by
violence and chaos.
Aug. 17:
A day of healing and uplift took a violent turn as protesters were
doused with tear gas yet again after Molotov cocktails were reportedly
hurled at police. Nixon announced early Monday that he was “directing
the highly capable men and women of the Missouri National Guard to
assist,” in restoring peace and order to the community.
The worst night of violence in this St. Louis suburb that has been
engulfed in tensions since a white police officer killed an unarmed
black teenager on Aug. 9.
Aug. 16- Early Aug. 17:
A citywide curfew went into effect at midnight on August 17, hours
after the governor declared a state of emergency in this largely
African-American suburb of St. Louis where protests and the
disproportionate police response roiled the community following the
killing one week ago of an unarmed black teenager.
A citywide curfew went into effect hours after the governor declared a state of emergency in Ferguson, Missouri.
Aug. 13:
A peaceful demonstration turned violent Wednesday as militarized
police wearing fatigues and riot gear tear-gassed dozens of protesters,
fired stun grenades into a crowd and arrested reporters in a third night
of chaos in the aftermath of the police shooting of Brown. Young black
men and women protesters, with their hands held high in the air, had
refused to heed police orders to disperse as the sun set. As darkness
descended, police moved in, announcing on a bullhorn that the gathering
was no longer peaceful and began firing tear gas and stun grenades,
choking protesters lined along a main thoroughfare in Ferguson.
Aug. 11:
Several hundred police officers confronted crowds for a second night
on Monday, as peaceful day protests turned violent and authorities
arrested 15 people by nighttime. There were reports of tear gas fired,
as well as taunting and yelling from drivers toward police as they
passed various intersections.
Large groups of residents continued to demand justice this week in
Ferguson, Mo., following the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown
on Saturday.
Aug. 9:
Brown is shot and killed by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. Riots broke out late Sunday, August 10 in Ferguson,
where people smashed car windows and broke into stores following the
teen’s death. Roughly 150 police officers were called to contain the
scene, and 32 individuals were arrested.
”Don’t
shoot us” cries out the crowd as they confront police officers arriving
to break up a crowd in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 9, 2014.
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