National Guard troops began leaving Ferguson, Missouri, on Friday in a sign authorities are increasingly confident they have quelled the worst of the violence that erupted after a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager.
Two straight nights of relative calm have created a sense of guarded optimism among some residents and officials that protests over the weekend will be more peaceful and largely devoid of the looting and violent clashes that drew national attention to the St. Louis suburb over the past two weeks.
Police made only isolated arrests Wednesday and Thursday nights. But some cautioned the calm may not hold: Weekend nights can often be more combustible, since more people tend to be on the streets, and funeral services are planned on Monday for 18-year-old Michael Brown.
“Monday night will be a critical night,” said Bishop Edwin Bass, president of the St. Louis church Urban Initiatives of the Church of God In Christ. “The funeral could have a big impact on the mood of the community.”
The White House said it was encouraged by the situation over the past few days, and that President Barack Obama is monitoring and getting regular briefings.
A local grand jury, made up of three blacks and nine whites, met this week to begin hearing evidence in the case, a process St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said could last into mid-October. Nine votes are needed for an indictment.
In addition to local activists and clergy, a contingent of US civil rights workers and community activists from Georgia, Florida, Detroit and elsewhere have set up shop in Ferguson and say they plan to remain in town for an extended period.
The patchwork of groups, including the Dream Defenders and the National Lawyers Guild, are holding training and strategy sessions for local young people and others who want to continue to peacefully protest Brown’s death. They are instructing teams of “legal observers” on how to document complaints of police harassment and abuse.
A flier one group has been handing out states, “Today It’s Ferguson, Tomorrow It’s You,” and it pictures white police officers with dogs facing off against black youth with hands raised in the air.
The Dream Defenders, a civil rights group, is calling for a national walkout of college students on Monday.