Justice Fails-The World's Citizens Respond-Ferguson Trigger

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Justice Fails-The World's Citizens Respond-Ferguson Trigger

Unread postby Paul Kemp » Tue Nov 25, 2014 7:16 pm

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Protests Erupt against Police Brutality Across US After Ferguson Grand Jury Decision
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By Global Research News
Global Research, November 25, 2014
Sputnik
Region: USA
Theme: Law and Justice
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US President Barack Obama urged protesters to remain peaceful, stating that as “a nation built on the rule of law,” US citizens must “accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make.” The family of the late teen also urged demonstrators to stay calm, saying in a statement that “answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction.”
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MOSCOW – The grand jury decision not to press charges against white police officer Darren Wilson, who, in August fatally shot an African-American teen in the US city of Ferguson, has triggered a new wave of protests.

The killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who has unarmed at the time, sparked massive protests against police brutality in Ferguson and around the country. Much like in August, this new wave of protests have turned violent, with police resorting to the use of tear gas to disperse angry crowds, sparking further outrage and fueling the debate on excessive use of force by US police officers.

“What we saw tonight was much worse than what we saw any night in August. Bricks were thrown at police officers, two St. Louis County police cars were set on fire and police seized an automatic weapon,” the St. Louis County Police said Tuesday on its official Facebook page.

Ferguson Expected Protests

On November 17, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a 30-day state of emergency ahead of possible unrest should the grand jury decide against indicting Wilson.

County police reportedly spent some $100,000 to stock up on riot gear, pepper spray, smoke grenades and rubber bullets ahead of possible new protests. According to local gun shop owners interviewed by CNN, gun sales surged ahead of the grand jury verdict.



Confirming authorities’ predictions, protesters have been attacking police with rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails. Several businesses and police cars were set alight, while firefighters reportedly struggled to reach multiple fires taking place simultaneously in the city.According to St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, about 29 demonstrators were detained during the first night of protests. At least 13 people sustained injuries in the riots, including two with gunshot wounds. These received treatment at local hospitals, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported.

A producer working for the RT-owned video news agency Ruptly, Lorena de la Cuesta, was injured during protests in the US city of Ferguson.

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The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight ban over Ferguson amid reports of guns fired into the sky, while the St. Louis suburb of Nixon requested more national guardsmen.

Journalists, Activists Under Attack

According to the executive director of Amnesty International USA, the organization’s observers in three separate locations in Ferguson had been affected by tear gas as police officers raided seemingly safe spaces, such as cafes.

Meanwhile, three journalists were reportedly attacked by a group of protesters in the St. Louis suburb. “Three of us journalists attacked by gang. Poor reporter we were with punched and had wallet stolen,” the Guardian’s Washington correspondent Paul Lewis said on his Twitter.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight ban over Ferguson amid reports of guns fired into the sky, while the St. Louis suburb of Nixon requested more national guardsmen.

Countrywide Protests

As a result of the grand jury verdict, demonstrations stretched beyond Ferguson, as thousands of people in 90 cities including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington D.C. took to the streets to protest police brutality, chanting “hands up, don’t shoot” to show solidarity with Brown, who, according to some witnesses, was killed in a surrender posture.

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US President Barack Obama urged protesters to remain peaceful, stating that as “a nation built on the rule of law,” US citizens must “accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make.” The family of the late teen also urged demonstrators to stay calm, saying in a statement that “answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction.”
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Re: Justice Fails-The Worlds Citizens Respond-Ferguson Trigg

Unread postby Paul Kemp » Tue Nov 25, 2014 8:41 pm

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No Indictment for Ferguson Cop who Killed Michael Brown
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By Andre Damon
Global Research, November 25, 2014
World Socialist Web Site
Region: USA
Theme: Law and Justice, Police State & Civil Rights
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St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert P. McCulloch’s statement Monday night that no charges will be filed against Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown is a travesty of justice.

The entire process through which the grand jury arrived at its decision is a legal fraud. The outcome is not the result of fair judicial proceedings, but political calculations. The grand jury returned the outcome the state was seeking: no charges for the police murder of an unarmed African American youth.

Despite the fact that the decision was not announced until after 9:00pm eastern time, there were protests Monday night throughout the United States, including in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

In Ferguson and surrounding cities, police responded by deploying SWAT teams in riot gear, firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Convoys of armored police vehicles rolled through the streets. The roofs of some of the vehicles were lined with sand bags, with marksmen pointing assault rifles at unarmed demonstrators. At least 29 people have been arrested.

The mayor of Ferguson called for the deployment of the National Guard—previously activated by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, who declared a pre-emptive state of emergency last week.

President Barack Obama spoke immediately after McCulloch’s statement, mouthing a few perfunctory and semi-coherent comments, the main aim of which was to solidarize himself with the grand jury ruling.

CNN broadcast a split screen, showing on one side the police crackdown in Ferguson and on the other Obama declaring, “We are a nation built on the rule of law,” insisting that everyone had to accept the grand jury decision.

As police fired volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets, Obama decried “mistrust” of the police, declaring that “nobody needs good policing more than poor communities.” Obama spent a substantial portion of his brief remarks, delivered in his typical disinterested tone, castigating potential looters.

“There is never an excuse for violence,” Obama said. That is, in the name of respect for the law, Obama—who is responsible for untold violence all over the world and the destruction of democratic rights at home—gave his stamp of approval to a decision that essentially grants police a license to kill.

In his own remarks, McCulloch went out of his way to emphasize the degree to which the entire proceeding was coordinated with the Obama White House and the Justice Department.

In an extended speech, which included denunciations of the media and public opinion for “speculation” on the facts, McCulloch sough to obscure the basic fact of the case: an unarmed man was shot six times, including twice in the head, at a substantial distance from Wilson’s police car.

McCulloch said that “physical evidence” had contradicted the accounts of numerous witnesses, but did not specify what that physical evidence consisted of, aside from what he called a short-range gunshot wound to Brown’s hand. He likewise said that witnesses had indicated that Brown “charged” at Wilson, but that these witnesses had never previously come forward.

“Decisions on charging an individual with a crime cannot be based on anything besides a thorough investigation of the facts,” Wilson said. This exercise in self-serving apologetics by the prosecuting attorney served only to underscore the illegitimacy of the entire proceeding.

From the beginning, the three-month grand jury process was utilized as a way of bypassing a public trial for Brown’s killer. Under conditions of an actual trial, the facts of the case and the testimony of witnesses would be subject to adversarial proceedings. Instead, the prosecutor, who is known for his connections to police, substituted secret hearings behind closed doors, with evidence manipulated to produce the desired result.

In the end, the political establishment decided that no charges could be filed against Wilson—not even the lesser charge of manslaughter. The prosecutors did not get an indictment because they did not want an indictment.

The decision not to charge Wilson took place against the backdrop of a growing wave of police violence all over the United States, including last week’s killing of a 12-year-old boy playing with a toy gun in Cleveland, Ohio and an unarmed man in New York City.

The decision marked a stand taken by the political establishment that it would uphold the right of police to kill whomever they chose. Like all reactionary classes facing a crisis, the American ruling class decided that any concession to the demands of the population that Wilson be prosecuted would be politically dangerous and serve only to encourage opposition.

The ruling and subsequent police crackdown express the breakdown of democratic forms of rule in the United States, under the pressure of the growth of social inequality and the drive to war. The war on terror has come home.

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Re: Justice Fails-The World's Citizens Respond-Ferguson Trig

Unread postby Paul Kemp » Wed Nov 26, 2014 4:35 am

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Protests break out across NINETY cities as thousands march in anger over grand jury decision that Officer Darren Wilson won't face charges in the death of Michael Brown
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By DAVID MCCORMACK FOR MAILONLINE and ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 01:32 GMT, 25 November 2014 | UPDATED: 15:16 GMT, 25 November 2014
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Protests break out across NINETY cities as thousands march in anger over grand jury decision that Officer Darren Wilson won't face charges in the death of Michael Brown

  • Protesters in New York marched over the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Triboro bridges closed down traffic
  • Demonstrations took place in cities including Chicago, Seattle, Washington DC, LA, Boston and Philadelphia
  • Officer Darren Wilson will not be charged over the shooting death of Michael Brown
  • Not long after Monday night's verdict, President Barack Obama appealed for calm and understanding
  • In New York several thousand people marched from Union Square to Times Square in protest
  • In Oakland, California, dozens of protesters blocked traffic on a major highway in the Bay Area
  • Police elsewhere have reported that the protests have been large and loud but mainly peaceful

Demonstrators angered by at the grand jury decision in the Darren Wilson case took to the streets in 90 cities from coast to coast Monday night, snarling traffic, chanting slogans condemning police and waving signs in support of slain black teen Michael Brown.
In New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston and Chicago, thousands of people led marches screaming, 'Hands up! Don't shoot!' that has become a rallying cry in protests over police killings across the country.
The protests around the country were largely peaceful, but several demonstrations were marred by foul-mouthed verbal attacks on police and arrests.

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Photos and videos spread around social media showing protesters walking down traffic lanes on three New York City bridges.

A line of NYPD officers attempted to push protesters off the RFK/Triboro Bridge, with reports that cops were threatening to arrest protesters around 1:25 AM early Tuesday.

Several thousand more people had marched from Union Square to Times Square to protest. Crowds had gathered on the plaza on Monday evening awaiting the decision, but once it was announced protesters mobilized and began marching north.

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People held up signs reading 'Black lives matter' and 'Jail killer cops,' and chanted 'Hands up, don't shoot' and 'No justice, no peace' as they walked to Times Square, reports NBC4.

Activists had been planning to protest even before the night-time announcement that Officer Darren Wilson will not be charged in the shooting death of Michael Brown.

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The racially charged case in Ferguson has inflamed tensions and reignited debates over police-community relations even in cities hundreds of miles from the predominantly black St. Louis suburb.

For many staging protests Monday, the shooting was personal, calling to mind other galvanizing encounters with local law enforcement.

Police departments in several major cities said they were bracing for large demonstrations with the potential for the kind of violence that marred nightly protests in Ferguson after Brown's killing.

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Demonstrators there vandalized police cars, hugged barricades and taunted officers with expletives Monday night while police fired smoke canisters and pepper spray. Gunshots were heard on the streets.

But police elsewhere reported that gatherings were mostly peaceful immediately following Monday's announcement.
Other signs included pictures of both Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the local Staten Island man who died in July after being put in a choke hold by police during an arrest.

Protesters were penned in an area at the northern end of the square, behind a ring of police officers. They pushed the metal police barriers aside and yelled, 'No justice, no peace, no racist police.'

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On a night marked by largely peaceful demonstrations, violence broke out not far from Ferguson leaving a police officer wounded.

The unnamed law enforcement official was shot in the arm just before midnight in University city, five miles south of Ferguson. He was taken to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries, and he is expected to make a full recovery.
The official Twitter account of the St. Louis County Police Department confirmed the shooting, which reportedly took place at approximately 11:30 p.m.

'A U. City police officer has been shot. Condition is unknown. Search for suspect underway. It is unclear if related to #FergusonDecision,' the account wrote.

During an early morning press conference, St. Louis Co. Police Chief Jon Belmar said that as far as he was aware, the shooting was 'totally unrelated' to the Ferguson protests and that his heart goes out to the officer's family.

In Oakland, California, dozens of people protesting the Ferguson grand jury decision had gotten around police and blocked traffic on a major highway in the Bay Area.

Television images showed people milling around cars, raising their hands in the air, and holding signs on Interstate 580.
A coalition of groups called the Ferguson National Response Network and Ferguson Action organized demonstrations in some 90 cities across 34 states and Canada for the night of the announcement, according to Bloomberg.

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Not long after Monday night's verdict, President Barack Obama appealed for calm and understanding - pleading with both residents and police officers to show restraint.

'We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make,' Obama said. He said it was understandable that some Americans would be 'deeply disappointed - even angered,' but echoed Brown's parents in calling for any protests to be peaceful.

In a late-night statement from the White House, Obama also urged Americans not to deny recent progress in race relations in the U.S., the protests in Ferguson notwithstanding. He called for the public to accept the grand jury's decision and to refocus on ways to make more progress in bringing police and their communities together.

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'That won't be done by throwing bottles. That won't be done by smashing car windows. That won't be done by using this as an excuse to vandalize property,' Obama said. 'It certainly won't be done by hurting anybody.'

Cities including Seattle, Washington and Boston, Massachusetts, held protests as well as much smaller cities like Meadville, Pennsylvania, and Longview, Texas.

Protesters in both Boston and Seattle observed the 4.5 minutes of silence that the Brown family requested after the decision was announced, with protesters in Boston then marching from City Hall to the statehouse.

In Los Angeles, which was rocked by riots in 1992 after the acquittal of police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, police officers were told to remain on duty until released by their supervisors.

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About 100 people gathered in Leimert Park - a predominantly African-American neighborhood - while others held a small news conference demanding changes in police policies. A splinter group of about 30 people broke away and marched through surrounding streets, blocking intersections, but the demonstrations remained mostly small and peaceful.

Squad cars could be seen with their lights flashing outside the Santa Monica Town Hall as around 30 protesters held up provocative hand-made signs.

Several protesters had signs that read 'State Sanctioned Murder', 'Fight Racism Like Ferguson', 'No Racist Police', 'Police Violence Must Stop' and 'Honk for Justice Don't be Silent' as commuters made their way home at night.

At least 50 demonstrators tried to walk onto the Santa Monica Freeway from an off-ramp to block traffic, but they peacefully obeyed orders from California Highway Patrol officers to turn back, CHP spokesman Edgar Figueroa said.

A 'handful' of protesters who apparently climbed up from another direction managed to dash the freeway as police were arriving on the scene, Figueroa said. No one was injured and there were no arrests, but the freeway was shut down in both directions for about 10 minutes until the incident was over, he said.

About 100 people holding signs that read 'The People Say Guilty!' blocked an intersection in downtown Oakland, California, after a line of police officers stopped them from getting on a highway on-ramp. Minutes earlier, some of the protesters lay on the ground while others outlined their bodies in chalk. A similar scene unfolded in Seattle as dozens of police officers watched.

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In Philadelphia, several hundred people chanting, 'No justice, no peace,' marched through the neighborhoods of Center city, Chinatown, Queens Village, Rittenhouse and Penn's Landing, reported NBC Philadelphia.

Some demonstrators hurled profanities at police officers monitoring the demonstration, but it remained largely peaceful.
'Mike Brown is an emblem (of a movement). This country is at its boiling point,' said Ethan Jury, a protester in Philadelphia. 'How many people need to die? How many black people need to die?'

Chris Manor, with Utah Against Police Brutality, helped organize an event in Salt Lake City that attracted about 35 people.
'There are things that have affected us locally, but at the same time, it's important to show solidarity with people in other cities who are facing the very

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In Denver, where a civil jury last month found deputies used excessive force in the death of a homeless street preacher, clergy gathered at a church to discuss the decision, and dozens of people rallied in a downtown park with a moment of silence.

In Chicago, demonstrators walked up Lake Shore Drive carrying banners that read 'Justice for Mike Brown' and marched from the city's police headquarters toward downtown after hearing the Ferguson decision, using profanity but causing no damage. Police on bicycles, horseback and in squad cars closed portions of roads along the protesters' route.

Hundreds of demonstrators in Washington DC, many of them Howard University students, marched down the middle of U Street Northwest after the grand jury's verdict.

At Cleveland's Public Square, at least a dozen protesters held signs on Monday afternoon and chanted 'Hands up, don't shoot,' which has become a rallying cry since the Ferguson shooting.

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Their signs referenced police shootings that had shaken the community there, including Saturday's fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had a fake gun at a Cleveland playground when officers confronted him.

Los Angeles Community activist Najee Ali said he met with police last week to discuss plans for a peaceful gathering in response to the Ferguson decision.

The plans include having community members identify any 'agitators' who may be inciting violence so officers can remove them from the crowd, he said.

'It was kind of unprecedented,' Ali said of the meeting. 'We never collaborate with the LAPD. They do what they do, and we do what we do.'

But since violence erupted at the city's rallies protesting the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, Ali said there was an effort to avoid repeat problems.

'We told them our plans of protest and we were demanding our First Amendment rights be protected,' Ali said. 'They said they're taking a hands-off approach,' but they'd be in the wings if outside agitators try to stir up violence in the crowds.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans released a statement, asking for students to protest peacefully after the announcement.

'We are asking students to be mindful that there may be outside agitators trying to provoke and instigate otherwise peaceful protests. I ask that if public demonstrations occur as a result of the decision they are done with respect to our neighbors and businesses, responsibly and peacefully,' he said.

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Read more:
Ferguson Demonstrations Set for Federal Courthouses Across U.S. - Bloomberg
Over 1,000 in NYC Protest Ferguson Decision | NBC New York
Protestors Take to Philly Streets After Ferguson Grand Jury Decision | NBC 10 Philadelphia


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Re: Justice Fails-The World's Citizens Respond-Ferguson Trig

Unread postby Paul Kemp » Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:28 am

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Ferguson Spillover: Public anger spreads across US following non-indictment verdict
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Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury

Unread postby Paul Kemp » Tue Dec 02, 2014 1:43 am

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Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury
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Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury
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Published on Nov 27, 2014
Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury
In the Rewrite, Lawrence looks at a major correction the assistant prosecutors had to make to the grand jury in the Michael Brown case.
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