A state of emergency declaration has given police in Ferguson, Missouri broader powers, and they’ve been joined by a controversial group of armed men.
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Local police didn’t report any arrest for Tuesday night but the right-wing vigilantes still made their presence felt. But a minority of people who will always view such events only as an excuse to engage in anonymous looting and destruction is making it tough for both sides. But that’s exactly what’s happening now that members of the so-called patriot group, the “Oath Keepers” – all of them white – have shown up, provocatively brandishing assault rifles and disingenuously insisting they’re only there to “keep the peace”.
Some in the community see a double standard.
I’m Bill Lamb and that’s my Point of View.
Harris was shot late Sunday after allegedly opening fire on an unmarked police van.
Morris told her British audience that the commemoration of the one year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death had been interrupted by armed Oath Keepers, who claimed that they were there to protect businesses and conservative journalists.
St. Louis County police confronted the group members as they guarded the rooftops of buildings previously vandalized during unrest. Police used smoke to disperse the crowd. “There really was no need”, Patricia Barnes, a Democratic Committeewoman of the Township of Ferguson, told NBC News.
“The “orders” the Oath Keepers refuse reveal their extreme conspiratorial mindset, because the “orders” are not instructions ever likely to be actually handed down by Obama or his officials; instead, they are reflective of the anti-government conspiracy theories embraced by the extreme right”.
Following last year’s protests in Ferguson, Americans have realized there’s a problem with policing throughout the US, says civil rights activist DeRay McKesson.
When asked why they were there, responses include references to past riots in the city and others claiming to know little to nothing about why protestors were congregating.
However, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar described their presence as “both unnecessary and inflammatory”. “I’m happy that we’re able to defend ourselves”, one unidentified Oath Keeper replied. Wearing neither a helmet nor a shield, the St. Louis County police chief strode directly toward demonstrators, telling them to get out of the street and urging calm.
But Missouri Oath Keeper leader John Karriman said that police had approved their presence.
Missouri allows individuals with concealed weapons permits to openly display firearms, unless it is done in an “angry or threatening manner”.
According to the news network, the Oath Keepers’ arrival was met with anger and confusion.
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Oath Keepers describes itself as a “non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police and first responders”.
