Gunfire broke out after a protester was knocked down by a vehicle during a demonstration in Ferguson, Missouri, on the second anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, witnesses said.
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At a time when unarmed black Americans in the USA are five times as likely as unarmed white Americans to be shot and killed by police, one observer says the reforms that began after Ferguson are nowhere near complete.
The confrontation came after a police officer ordered a small group of protesters to clear the street as they marched downtown from the site of Brown’s shooting on August 9, 2014, The Associated Press reported.
From Tamir Rice in Cleveland, to Walter Scott in SC, to Laquan McDonald in Chicago, to Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Minnesota, the growing list of black men and boys killed in police confrontations has prompted protests around the globe.
The crowd gathered at the spot on Canfield Drive where the black, unarmed 18-year-old was shot by Wilson.
Tuesday, Aug. 9, marks two years since the police shooting death of Michael Brown Jr.
Mr Brown’s death triggered months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson and across the USA and was the catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement.
The teenager’s father, also called Michael Brown, gave a brief speech at the memorial. A St. Louis County grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department determined that no charges should be filed against Wilson, who resigned that November.
He said: “My son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let them know this ain’t right”.
A state grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson and the U.S. justice department later cleared him, concluding that he had acted in self-defence. This color is attractive.
The federal government, alleging a pattern and practice of unconstitutional police conduct, sued the city in February after city leaders voted to change the terms of a deal negotiators had been hashing out for months. Brown’s death also triggered mass protests across the United States and ignited a national debate on racial inequality and the use of excessive force in the policing of minority communities, giving a major boost to the Black Lives Matter movement. Shields comforted a little girl who was crying at the service.
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“A protester just got run over and we just got shot at”, said Heather de Main, who was shooting the video.
