Couple draw guns at crowd heading to St Louis mayor’s home
A white couple pointed guns at protesters in St Louis as a group marched toward the mayor’s home to demand her resignation after she read the names and addresses of residents who supported defunding the police department during an online briefing.
A social media video showed the armed couple standing outside of their large home on Sunday evening in the upscale Central West End neighbourhood of the Missouri city.
In the video, the unidentified couple shouted at peaceful protesters, while people in the march moved the crowd forward, urging participants to ignore them.
People in the crowd included black and white protesters.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether St Louis police were aware of the incident.
The group of at least 500 people was heading toward Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home, chanting, “Resign Lyda, take the cops with you,” news outlets reported.
Resignation demands come after a Friday Facebook live briefing, where Krewson read the names and addresses of several residents who wrote letters to the mayor suggesting she defund the police department.
The video was removed from Facebook and Krewson apologised on Friday, stating she didn’t “intend to cause distress”.
The names and letters are considered public records but Krewson’s actions received heavy backlash.
Protesters nationwide have been pushing to “defund the police” following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
An online petition calling for Krewson’s resignation had about more than 43,000 signatures as of early.
“As a leader, you don’t do stuff like that ... it’s only right that we visit her at her home,” said state Rep Rasheen Aldridge.