The St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri has experienced dramatic protests and unrest following the death of unarmed 18-year-old Mike Brown by the police. This evening police and protestors came to blows on the streets of Ferguson, with St. Louis County Police officers demanding a crowd of smartphone-holding protesters and reporters to turn off their phones around 10PM. Shortly afterwards, police fired tear gas, smoke grenades, and rubber bullets into a peaceful protesting crowd.
Yes, this is really America.
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Here’s a longer version of the video, which was streamed online:
UPDATE: Better video from Fox in St. Louis:
And another video from a livestream earlier tonight:
Also, note that earlier this evening Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowrey and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly were arrested when a SWAT team entered a McDonalds and told them to stop recording. Here’s Lowery’s video:
A few recent tweets of the gas being used by police:
RT @kodacohen: Huge cloud of gas over Ferguson. #MikeBrown #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/2ZzCSlagOP
— Alex Segura (@alex_segura) August 14, 2014
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Wow, at this screenshot from @fox2now of a cameraman in the tear gas. pic.twitter.com/cqT1JZjQwm
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) August 14, 2014
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KSDK footage shows #Ferguson police lobbing tear gas at Al Jazeera news crew – pic.twitter.com/WMiFAy0ceE
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) August 14, 2014
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Protesters across an intersection from police line, standing still with arms raised pic.twitter.com/muuZfJzFlc
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) August 14, 2014
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Also, this picture is proof that this violence is clearly a two-way street.
Protesters try unsuccessfully to light a Molotov cocktail as police ready to advance in #Ferguson Pic by @pdchris pic.twitter.com/BirlJAfI8H
— Lynden Steele (@manofsteele) August 14, 2014
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There’s a lot to read on the Ferguson unrest elsewhere, so — as a citizen of the world — I recommend you get educated on it. Wesley Lowery’s coverage at the Washington Post is fantastic. Pretty much every news-ish blog on the Internet is covering, so stay tuned.