Police in riot gear clashed with a small group of protesters in a sub-freezing Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday night, as tensions grew over a coming announcement on whether a white officer will be charged for killing an unarmed black 18-year-old.
About 50 officers wearing riot helmets and carrying batons and shields repeatedly charged at demonstrators, who were gathered outside the Ferguson police headquarters to demand the indictment of officer Darren Wilson, who shot dead Michael Brown on August 9.
In the most serious confrontation since a grand jury decision on Wilson became imminent in mid-November, protesters sounded sirens, shouted abuse at police and revived chants of “hands up – don’t shoot” from the nights of unrest in the St Louis suburb after Brown’s death.
“I will stand here because I have the right to stand here,” said Walter Rice, 75, who was banging a large metal bucket with a spoon in time to the chants. Several other stalwarts of the demonstrations in August were also among the crowd.
After sharp criticism of the militarised response to the summer demonstrations, police chiefs had in recent days stressed that officers would reserve the right to put on riot gear when their safety was at risk. Yet the protest on Wednesday night posed no apparent threat and had even begun thinning out before the situation escalated after police put on a show of force.
They arrested at least six people including Bassem Masri, an activist-journalist who officers said had a series of outstanding warrants to his name. Others were grabbed by officers from the ground on South Florissant Road after refusing to retreat to the pavement underneath a “Season’s Greetings” banner in temperatures of -2C.
Although small in scale, the clash is likely to be viewed as a foretaste of actions likely to follow the announcement of whether Wilson, 28, is to be indicted. The widespread assumption among protesters, informed by leaks from the jury hearings, is that he will not be charged.
Governor Jay Nixon earlier this week declared a state of emergency and authorised the Missouri national guard to assist the policing of any protests. Francis Slay, the mayor of St Louis, said on Tuesday that he expected “widespread civil disobedience” following the announcement of the grand jury’s decision.
Wilson repeatedly shot Brown in sharply disputed circumstances after an altercation that followed the officer stopping him and a friend for jaywalking.
