Saturday saw a second consecutive day of protests throughout the streets of St. Louis. Demonstrators again gathered in their thousands to protest against the decision made by Judge Timothy Wilson to acquit Jason Stockley, a white ex-cop, of charges relating to the shooting of Lamar Smith, a black 24-year-old. Though the protests were initially peaceful and went ahead without incident, there were reports later in the day that some of those taking part had started behaving violently. The protests took place in the Delmar Loop of the University City suburb.
The purpose of the protests was to raise awareness about and improve the somewhat strained relationship between coloured communities and law enforcement officials. Most of the several hundred protesters disbanded later on during the evening, whereas a few remained behind and went on to throw things such as water bottles and rocks at police officers. Someone was even seen attacking a police SUV with a hammer.
Despite pleas to calm down, such acts continued, resulting in the arrests of seven protesters, with charges brought to them including destruction of property, resisting arrest and assaulting law enforcement officers. The cause was protested in the nearby city of Des Peres, where protesters marched through the West County Center mall chanting things such as ‘it is our duty to fight for our freedom’ and ‘black lives matter’.
Because of the protests, a number of music artists have decided to cancel events they had planned in the city. Both U2’s Saturday concert and Ed Sheeran’s Sunday concert were cancelled after police deemed they wouldn’t have enough numbers to adequately protect concertgoers. Numbers other events scheduled for the weekend have also been cancelled. These include the Science Uncorked event at the St. Louis Science Center, Shakespeare in the Streets in front of the downtown St. Louis Public Library and PeaceFest 2017 at Harris Stowe State University.
Second Night Of Protests Following Acquittal Of Ex-Cop
Comments 0