American protesters have once again taken to the streets in Missouri, demanding justice for an unarmed black teen killed by a white policeman and an end to racial discrimination.
As darkness fell Tuesday in Ferguson, a predominantly African-American suburb of St. Louis, police officers and protesters braced for the 10th night of confrontations over the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.
Two people were shot and dozens of people were arrested in Monday night’s demonstrations, many of whom had come from far away states.
Michael Staudenmaier and his wife brought their three children to Ferguson from Chicago because they believed it was “important to honor Michael Brown,” Staudenmaier told reporters.
“We like that people are standing up to police brutality and are going to act as a community and fight back again,” he said.
Tuesday night’s protests come hours after a 23-year-old African American man was shot dead in St. Louis. Police have claimed that the man was armed with a knife and that they fired at him to protect themselves.
As night descended, younger protesters began to dominate the crowd, chanting “We young, we strong, we marching all night long.”
Several demonstrators said they were optimistic that the night would remain quiet.
Public outrage over Brown’s death has sparked rounds of unrest with days of mostly peaceful protests followed by almost nightly outbursts of violence and looting, forcing the security forces to use heavy-handed tactics, such as firing tear gas and rubber bullets, which has caused injuries.
Brown’s body has been the subject of three autopsies. The first was conducted by St. Louis County. Another was done on Monday by a military doctor as part of the US Justice Department’s investigation. The results of those two autopsies and have not yet been released.
An autopsy was also conducted on Sunday at the request of Brown’s family by Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, who reported his findings. In a news conference on Monday, family members and Dr. Baden said that the autopsy he had performed confirmed witness accounts that Brown was trying to surrender when he was killed.
US Attorney General Eric Holder will visit Ferguson Wednesday and he promised a full and uncompromising civil rights investigation into the shooting death of Brown.
Meanwhile, international human rights organizations are calling on the authorities in the United States to respect people’s right to protest and to exercise restraint.
On Thursday, Amnesty International, a London-based non-governmental organization that focuses on human rights, took the “unprecedented” step of sending a team to the US to observe the escalating unrest in Ferguson.
AHT/AGB
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