The unrelenting winter weather may have not been ideal, but the below freezing temperatures didn’t dissuade demonstrators from gathering in front of the Ferguson, Mo. Police Department following the release of a damning Justice Department report that criticized police for their racially biased practices.
It’s unknown just how many congregated in front of the brick structure — common protesting grounds for many who demonstrated after the shooting death of Michael Brown Jr. — but video and images from reporters and activists on the ground show police slamming protesters into cars, confronting them in the street and, as St. Louis Alderman Antonio French detailed, “dragging” them away.
“@WyzeChef: Dragging Vega https://t.co/eUhSyqVpuE” #Ferguson police dragging a peaceful protestor (and grandmother) tonight.
— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) March 5, 2015
Wednesday also saw the firing of a police official and the suspension of two others, pending an investigation of racist emails made public by the Justice Department. In one of the seven emails discovered, President Barack Obama is depicted as a chimpanzee. Another suggests black people are “unemployed, lazy,” and “can’t speak English,” and yet another mocked African-Americans through speech. But the fallout from the report, coupled with the finding of “evidence of racial bias among police and court staff” did not stop police from squaring off with demonstrators.
Protesters are already getting arrested in #Ferguson tonight. Here’s an officer slamming someone on a car: pic.twitter.com/PvBvunxkRg
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) March 5, 2015
Police have yet to confirm how many were arrested, although a number of news sites report four. Charges, if any, have not been released.
Read the Justice Department’s report in its entirety, here.
SOURCE: NBC, Twitter | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
