FERGUSON, Mo. — Police in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson arrested two people and said more arrests were likely following protests on the 10th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a pivotal moment in the national Black Lives Matter movement.
Issues arose as protestors gathered outside the suburb’s police station on Friday to remember Brown, the unarmed Black 18-year-old who was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer.
The protest started as a reunion, with traffic diverted as around 40 people congregated outside the police headquarters, drinking beer and eating food, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
“We wanted to give peaceful protesters the space to do so,” police spokeswoman Pat Washington said Saturday morning.
Around midnight, however, at least five protesters tried to knock down part of the fence surrounding the police station, leading to the arrests.
Washington said the department is still trying to make arrests and review footage to decide the charges.
“There will be others,” she said Saturday.
Police didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment. The department’s Facebook page said the police chief would issue a full statement later in the day.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Fire Department placed a member of the department on leave after he made an social media post that the department described as insensitive.
“We take this matter seriously and do not condone such behavior,” the department wrote.
The department didn’t disclose the contents of the post, but KMOV reported that it read: “Happy ALIVE day to Darren Wilson!”
Brown’s death turned Ferguson into the focal point of the national reckoning with the historically tense relationship between U.S. law enforcement and Black people.
In 2015, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice also found no grounds to prosecute Wilson. But the report gave a scathing indictment of the police department — raising significant concerns about how officers treated Black residents, and about a court system that created a cycle of debt for many residents.
On the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, protests erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, as demonstrators gathered to remember the young man whose killing sparked a national conversation about police brutality and racial injustice. However, the peaceful demonstrations quickly turned chaotic as tensions escalated between protesters and law enforcement.
During the protests, police in Ferguson made a number of arrests as they attempted to maintain order and control the situation. The arrests were met with criticism from activists and community members who accused law enforcement of using excessive force and targeting peaceful protesters.
Many of those arrested were charged with offenses such as disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and failure to disperse. Some protesters were also taken into custody for allegedly throwing objects at police officers or vandalizing property.
The arrests made by police in Ferguson during the protests have reignited debates about the use of force by law enforcement and the treatment of protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. Critics argue that the heavy-handed tactics employed by police only serve to escalate tensions and undermine the message of the protests.
In response to the arrests, civil rights organizations and community leaders have called for an investigation into the actions of law enforcement during the protests. They are demanding accountability for any instances of police misconduct and are pushing for reforms to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
As the community in Ferguson continues to grapple with the legacy of Michael Brown’s death and the ongoing fight for racial justice, the arrests made by police during the protests serve as a stark reminder of the challenges that still exist in addressing systemic racism and police violence in America. It is clear that there is much work to be done to ensure that all individuals are treated fairly and equitably by law enforcement, regardless of their race or background.
