A PROTESTER
Police close Ferguson’s main street and schools remain shuttered in the Missouri town.
holds roses aloft as she and others march past police in Ferguson, Mo., where demonstrators ignored officials’ pleas to stay home.
FERGUSON, Mo. — As this troubled town awaited the arrival of U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., local officials pleaded for calm Tuesday, protesters ignored requests to stay home, and schools remained closed for fear of the violence that has clutched Ferguson for nearly two weeks.
A heavy police presence assembled, closing down the main street, where repeated confrontations have riveted an international audience in the aftermath of the fatal Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-yearold black man, by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer.
About midnight, after the protests appeared to be winding down, someone threw a bottle and police swarmed to make an arrest. As the night appeared on the verge of spinning out of control, some protesters linked arms and formed a line to separate police from possible troublemakers.
The Rev. Robert White of the Peace of Mind Church in St. Louis was among the older community leaders seeking to maintain the peace.
Earlier in the evening, he urged protesters to “give Ferguson a break” and let businesses get back on their feet. “The police are out here to protect us,” he told CNN.
“If we could end tonight without one person getting shot, that would be a real blessing,” he said.
Missouri Atty. Gen. Chris Koster arrived to brief ly address demonstrators. His spokeswoman issued a statement in his name voicing confidence in St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, despite calls for McCulloch to withdraw from the case.
“It is my understanding he has placed the matter in the hands of two highly experienced prosecutors, one of whom is African American,” Koster said in the statement. “I trust in their ability to diligently and fairly present the evidence in this case.”
Gov. Jay Nixon also said in a statement that he would not call on McCulloch to withdraw.
A St. Louis County grand jury was expected to begin hearing evidence Wednesday, the same day Holder plans to meet with community leaders, the governor, FBI investigators and federal prosecutors.
In an op-ed piece posted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday, Holder defended his decision to pursue a federal civil rights investigation contemporaneously with the local investigation.
He also warned rioters in this racially polarized town of 21,000 against looting and violence, calling them a small minority who only “seriously undermine, rather than advance, the cause of justice.” Holder cautioned that “violence cannot be condoned.”
Local officials said Tuesday that many of the 78 people arrested Monday night and into Tuesday morning were out-of-towners arrested for “refusal to disperse,” some from as far away as California and New York. St. Louis County police said in a late-evening email that between 8 a.m. Monday and 8 a.m Tuesday, that agency alone had arrested 52 people. Of those, 14 were from out of state.
“It is of note that 93% of those arrested were not Ferguson residents,” Officer Brian Schellman, spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department, said in a statement. “Of all those arrested, 27% were not residents of Missouri.”
One of the arrested, Carl Dix of Brooklyn, N.Y., denied that outsiders meant trouble. “There are no outsiders in the struggle against injustice and oppression,” he said.
In his op-ed piece, Holder confirmed that the federal autopsy of Brown had been completed. A government source who asked not to be identified said a U.S. military medical examiner had concluded that Brown was shot six times.
The federal autopsy was the third postmortem on Brown. The first was conducted by the St. Louis County medical examiner, the second on behalf of Brown’s family. The private autopsy, like the federal postmortem, showed six gunshot wounds.
The results of the county autopsy have not been made public. Holder has said the civil rights investigation will review the county-performed autopsy.
Local officials’ delay in releasing details of the shooting — including the name of the police officer involved — angered the community and led to allegations of an attempted coverup.
On Tuesday, a group of African American attorneys called for McCulloch, the county prosecutor, to recuse himself and let the Justice Department take over.
Ed Magee, spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office, denied allegations that the office could not be impartial.