During one of the several “Moral Monday” demonstrations organized to fight police brutality for Ferguson October’s “weekend of resistance,” 43 protestors were arrested outside of the police station.
More were arrested throughout the day and into the night, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
St. Louis County police released a list of 49 protesters who were arrested by late afternoon by their department, Ferguson Police, and the Missouri Highway Patrol. Of that list, 24 were from St. Louis area, and three were from outstate. The rest were from throughout the country. None were from Ferguson.
Cornel West, author and activist, was among those arrested this weekend.
Two miles away, six more protesters were arrested in the intersection of West Florissant Avenue and Lucas & Hunt Road, where they had been blocking traffic by holding up a sign. They had been part of a separate demonstration that began about a block away, at the entrance to the Emerson Electric Co. world headquarters. Watched by officers, the demonstrators never ventured onto Emerson property.
They were charged with refusal to disperse, the police spokesman said.
There were no arrests at another demonstration carried out by Millennial Activists United at Plaza Frontenac in West County.
At the mall, about 35 demonstrators who had been milling about gathered together near the central escalator near the Tiffany’s store and chanted. Shoppers stopped to watch, some of them snapping pictures with their phones. One person walked out of Cardwell’s restaurant and hugged a protester.
Alexis Templeton, one of the leaders, said of Frontenac, “This is a rich and affluent area. We wanted to march here to bridge that distance from our situation.”
Jamell Spann, another organizer, said, “We made people feel uncomfortable, but we want to show them how we feel uncomfortable every day.”
Protestors from Young Activists United gathered downtown at City Hall to demonstrate, calling for police accountability.
In a statement, spokesman Kennard Williams said, “As the citizens who elect the public officials and pay the taxes to maintain the police force, we find the conduct of the officials who oversee police action as unacceptable for our community.” Williams said the group wants all police officers to wear body cameras “during any public interaction” and for the city to create a civilian review board chosen by citizens, not appointed by City Hall, that would examine police shootings.
And in a show of solidarity with John Crawford III, the 22-year-old who was gunned down by Ohio police for carrying a toy rifle in Walmart, demonstrators gathered outside the Walmart in Ferguson.
At 6 p.m., about 60 protesters gathered outside the Walmart in Ferguson, which had been the scene of looting on the wild night one day after Brown was shot. A line of police officers guarded the store’s locked front door. Ferguson police said six people were arrested for trespassing and failure to comply and a reporter was detained.
Mark Esters, vice president of the St. Louis chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and organizer for the Communications Workers of America, said the protest was at Walmart to remember John Crawford, an Ohio man who was killed by police in a Walmart store.
“It’s another unjust killing of another black male at the hands of the police,” Esters said. He said that was in addition to Michael Brown and Vonderrit Myers and others in other cities. “All were killed at the hands of law enforcement who should have been serving and protecting the community.”
At about 8:30 p.m., another group of protesters gathered outside the Walmart in Maplewood, where they chanted outside the store and police stood waiting. At least five people were arrested, some inside the store.
Monday’s protests followed dozens of demonstrations organized over the weekend to curb police violence and honor victims of brutality at the hands of law enforcement. The weekend saw thousands travel to Ferguson in a show of solidarity.
And it seems that show was not in vain.
Mayor Francis Slay was not [at city hall] but Jeff Rainford, his chief of staff, met with a representative of the group and said the mayor would meet with the protesters soon.
“We are going to listen to them,” Rainford said. “You are going to see action from this.”
Visit FergusonOctober.com for more information.
SOURCE: STL Post-Dispatch | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
