St. Louis braces for weekend of protests after new shooting
By Kenny Bahr CLAYTON Mo. (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters marched through the rain on Friday afternoon to the St. Louis County courthouse, kicking off a weekend of demonstrations against police violence after eight people were arrested in protests overnight. Chanting "This is what democracy looks like" and "Hey, hey, ho, ho, these killer cops have got to go," the demonstrators walked peacefully for 90 minutes through a four-block area of the city of Clayton, adjacent to St. Louis. There were none of the clashes with police that have marked protests in the St. Louis area since a white police officer shot dead an unarmed black teenager in August. Violence broke out again this week after another black teenager was shot dead by an off-duty police officer on Wednesday. Civil rights organizations and protest groups have invited people from around the country to join vigils and marches from Friday to Monday over the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, 18, in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. Brown's parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., on Friday asked that the protests to be peaceful. "We understand first-hand the powerless frustration felt by people of all walks of life regarding their interactions with law enforcement," Brown's parents said in a statement. "We ask that those coming to show support for our son do so within the law." Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said authorities are planning for large crowds and possible violence. Groups such as Hands Up United have organized candlelight vigils, presentations from motivational speakers, free yoga classes and teach-ins about how to interact with police officers during stops. "Local police departments have gassed us, beat us and shot us with rubber bullets, but they cannot stop our march for justice," Tef Poe, a local rapper and organizer with Hands Up United, said in a statement. Later on Friday, organizers plan to build a shrine in Ferguson to those killed in police shootings and then march to the Ferguson police department. Protesters are calling for the arrest and prosecution of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown. A grand jury has been weighing the evidence to decide whether Wilson should be charged in Brown's shooting. Brown's killing in a mostly black town with a mostly white government leadership set off a national uproar over police accountability and race relations. Wednesday's shooting of Vonderrit Myers Jr., 18, by an off-duty white officer working for a private security firm in what police say was a firefight about 10 miles (16 km) from Ferguson in south St. Louis put the area on edge again. Police arrested eight people during protests on Thursday night when hundreds of demonstrators shouted and chanted at rows of police clad in riot gear in south St. Louis. (Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Will Dunham)
