Protests continue in St. Louis

Several hundred protesters marched in downtown St. Louis near the city’s police headquarters Sunday evening, and later through the St. Louis University campus, continuing demonstrations over the acquittal of a white former police officer charged in the shooting death of a black man.

Heading into a third night of protests, organizers said they were frustrated that a few people who have caused trouble at night could make it harder to spread their nonviolent message.

Sunday’s crowd began protesting silently in the late afternoon in front of the police department building, then chanted “stop killing us” as officers looked on from headquarters windows. Afterward, they resumed large-scale marching through streets, similar to what they’d done in previous days, chanting slogans such as “this is what democracy looks like.”

As nightfall came, most of the protesters had left, with about 100 remaining near the police station chanting “the whole damn system is guilty as hell.”

Protesters object to the notguilty verdict released Friday for Jason Stockley, who had been charged with firstdegree murder in the killing of Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011.

Authorities closed off several blocks around the police headquarters Sunday afternoon in anticipation of the demonstration, which followed two days of nonviolent marches that devolved after sunset when small groups turned violent on Friday and Saturday nights.