Several hundred
protesters march in St. Louis, marking a third day of demonstrations over the acquittal of a white former police officer charged in the shooting death of a black suspect.
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, marking a third day of demonstrations over the acquittal of a white former police officer charged in the shooting death of a black suspect.
Later, crowds turned angry and broke windows and damaged property. St. Louis police late Sunday night had at least seven people in custody.
Buses carrying police in full riot gear and shields arrived near the downtown location where police said significant property damage was reported following an hours-long nonviolent protest Sunday afternoon and evening.
After protest organizers asked people to disband, some remained, as they had the previous two nights.
State Rep. Bruce Franks, who has participated in the protests, said those who were violent and vandalizing were part of a group separate from those marching as part of organized demonstrations.
Police tweeted that a bike officer was taken to a hospital with a leg injury.
Earlier, the crowd observed six minutes of silence in front of the police department building, then chanted “stop killing us.” Some participated in a “diein” demonstration on the street. Afterward, they resumed the large-scale marching, chanting slogans such as “this is what democracy looks like.”
Protesters said Sunday that the six-minute silence symbolizes the six years between the death of Anthony Lamar Smith and the acquittal of the white former police officer who was charged in the black suspect’s shooting death. The verdict was issued Friday.
Authorities closed off several blocks around the police headquarters Sunday in anticipation of the demonstration, which followed two days of nonviolent marches and two nights of violent skirmishes.
Suburban St. Louis shop owners on Sunday swept up broken glass and boarded up storefront windows that were shattered overnight when a day of peaceful protests turned violent.
Saturday night’s clash between police and a few dozen protesters in the Delmar Loop area of University City, a suburb about 10 miles west of St. Louis near Washington University, resulted in the arrests of at least nine people. At least half of the shops on one side of a two-block stretch of the popular nightlife district were broken by the time the area was cleared.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens issued a warning Sunday on Facebook that anyone caught destroying property would be held accountable and could face felony charges.
“Saturday night, some criminals decided to pick up rocks and break windows. They thought they’d get away with it. They were wrong. Our officers caught ’em, cuffed ’em, and threw ’em in jail,” the first-term Republican governor wrote.
The protests began Friday after a judge acquitted former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley in the 2011 fatal shooting of Smith, 24.
Saturday night’s violence capped a day of noisy but peaceful demonstrations at suburban shopping malls.
Protesters shouted slogans such as “black lives matter” and “it is our duty to fight for our freedom” as they marched through West County Center mall in the suburb of Des Peres, west of St. Louis. A group also demonstrated at another suburban shopping center, the Chesterfield Mall, and at a regional food festival.
Organizers hoped to spread the effect of the protests beyond predominantly black neighborhoods to those that are mainly white.
Saturday’s confrontation took place in an area that includes the Blueberry Hill club where rock legend Chuck Berry played for many years. There had been a peaceful march in the area earlier in the evening.