Posted on 08/12/2014 5:18:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
For two days, angry mobs have gone on the rampage in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson after police shot and killed a black teenager. According to our Observer, racial tensions that have been simmering away for years are now starting to boil over.
Clashes broke out on Sunday evening after a prayer vigil had been held for the 18-year-old victim. Michael Brown was shot dead by police on Saturday afternoon in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis in the US state of Missouri. Videos showing the full extent of the chaos and looting have flooded social media networks.
A witness says the youth was unarmed and had held his arms up in the air before being shot “in the face and chest”. Police sources have also confirmed that the youth was unarmed when he was shot; though they claim that a struggle had taken place in a police car after Brown had tried to take an officer’s gun. The FBI has now launched an inquiry into the case intended to supplement the ongoing probe led by St. Louis County Police.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Crowds reportedly yelled slogans including “kill the police” in protests that broke out later. Police sent SWAT teams and anti-riot squads to contain the full-scale riots and looting. In this video posted on social media networks, police can be seen patrolling the streets.
Patricia Bynes is a Democratic Committeewoman for Ferguson Township. She witnessed the riots and looting first-hand on Sunday.
"On Sunday night there was a prayer vigil that the family had called for at 8pm at the scene of the shooting. There had to be over a thousand people that came out. I was at the vigil. Things had been peaceful. Then there was a march through the community. Unfortunately, there are a few bad apples that can spoil the bunch. I saw people starting to throw rocks and bottles at the police and a police car driving through the crowd. It had to slow down because there were people kicking it. At this point the police did not engage with the protesters. I feel that they showed a tremendous amount of restraint. I didn’t hear any gunshots. As I continued to walk forward then I saw where the police were. By the time I got there they were in full riot gear: masks and shields. I don’t know if they arrived dressed like that or if they had had to change into their riot gear. They had tear gas canisters too."
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
"They broke into beauty supplies stores, clothing stores, local stores"
"There were protesters wanting to provoke and antagonise the officers but I understand they were expressing anger and this is how they were venting. Along with me, there were about four or five other people trying to calm the situation down. Then within five minutes of that people started looting. I saw it across the street from me. They broke into beauty supplies stores, clothing stores, local stores. Behind us people had already started looting the QuikTrip shop."
The police chief – Chief Jon Belmar – said to me:
“Will you please ask people to go home. We need people to disperse, because if they don’t this could get very ugly.”
"So I pleaded with people to go home. But they would just disperse from one place and move elsewhere to keep looting."
"We need people to allow justice to takes its course"
"I understand the people’s anger. There are a lot of questions and I don’t think that there is any justification for police officers shooting an unarmed 18-year-old. But we need justice. We need people to allow justice to takes its course. This has just boiled over and it doesn’t help: the rioting isn’t about Mike Brown. These places that were looted… people from the community work there. The Brown family has said they don’t want any of this. The business owners are now involved, people in the community can’t go to these stores. It’s really sad and the Brown family deserves justice. This rioting and looting is just destructive."
In Ferguson, roughly 20% of the population lives below the national poverty line. From being predominately white over 40 years ago, nearly 70% of the town’s 21,000 residents are now black. Some protesters claim that Ferguson's police force disproportionately target black residents. In 2013 black motorists were twice as likely to be stopped than white drivers. 93% of arrests made following car stops were of black people.
Another cause for tension in Ferguson is the mismatch between the town's racial make-up and the police force. Only three of Ferguson Police Department's 53 members are black, compared to 70% of the town's residents. Elsewhere, only one out of six of the City Council members are black, and both the mayor and police chief are white. Community leaders say the violence is down to the alienation of certain segments of the black population.
"There’s been a racial undercurrent in the St. Louis region for quite some time. We have bad race relations here, even geographically. The northern part of the city and county is predominately black. The southern part is mainly white. These race issues seem to be boiling over now. There’s also the overall issue of police brutality against the black community. We have been asking for the FBI and the justice department to get involved in the investigation [The FBI has now opened a probe into Michael Brown’s death].
(VIDEOS-AT-LINK)
Since Obama and Holder refuse to uphold the law, obey the laws, and follow the orders of the court, I guess I don't have to either.
From the link:
“We were doing a story on an app that describes ‘sketchy’ neighborhoods,” Lenghi said. “It led us to the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest, and I’m not going to call it a ‘sketchy’ neighborhood, but as folks were telling us that it was a good neighborhood, and that not much activity happens around there — as that was being told to us, our van was being robbed.”
“We got back to the news van,” he continued, “and noticed that the lock was popped out. Got in there, and noticed that all of our stuff was gone.
The problem is not that one criminal was shot.
The problem is that not enough criminals have been shot
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Very true.
But the longer ‘we’ let this go on - like I said, about 50 years now - it becomes almost impossible to stop.
Going in with a ‘Swat Team’ guns a blazin will put an end to it BUT ‘we’ have condoned this behavior for so long that before you know it, ‘others’ will be participating in the festivities because they have no reason to believe ‘we’ will do anything to stop it.
That is the sorrowful part....
You actually side with the subhuman rioters?
I don’t see why anybody should obey the law presently, quite frankly. Holder and DOJ are a perfect example of what I am talking about.
I side with those who are livid about lawless police treating the people they are supposed to serve and protect so abusively.
I believe we have a winner. Only I would have called them communists. Same difference, though.
And writes it in cursive.
You'd think that would be a valid defense in any criminal case. Once a criminal act is de-criminalized, doesn't it become a legal precedence? For instance: If Holder isn't going to enforce the federal offence of illegal immigration, I can rob a bank (a federal offence) and claim I'm innocent because of selective enforcement.
Darkness at the edge of town?
What happened to all those used armored military vehicles various police departments are getting from odumbo? Those vehicles are being sent for just such purposes, RIOT CONTROL. (Our local police in a city of approximately 6500 has one). You want to quell a riot, see one of those babies with a 30 cal mounted on the roof lumbering towards you, my bet is most rioters would scatter.
Out of the St. Louis metro area? I doubt it.
Oh, come on. This is an isolated incident...(/s)
DC police officer shot wounded; search for gunman
Police Fatally Shoot Man in South L.A.; Family Members Say He Was Lying Down When Shot
Another police shooting in Ferguson
Lawless AZ Crowd Swarms Tucson Police, Attempt to Stop Arrest of Illegal Immigrant
Oh, come on. This is an isolated incident...(/s)
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Supposedly someone on a twitter or twatter or whatever the obozo phones can carry the message on (reportedly) twatted that the looters should move into the white neighborhoods.
That game just may get interesting then..Maybe not so much in the ‘affluent’ suburbs of a large city but I would imagine some of those little outlying hamlets wouldn’t mind getting in some ‘range’ time.
Speaking of the obozophones etc, this may be the ‘army’ he had said he wanted to ‘start’ with the citizenry.
Maybe the flash mobs and knockout games were just things to see how much we would take.
However, I do find it hard to believe there is much ‘intelligent’ planning involved here...more reminiscent of the old Mickey Rooney movies where the theme was ‘lets put on a show’.
They, apparently with ‘OUR’ blessing, (as a whole we have sat back and watched this festering boil grow to where it may appear the only solution is an armed conflict) have been building to this moment since the ‘Great Society’ was birthed.
NOW that is something that should have underwent an abortion.
‘WE’ now have a couple of generations that have been coddled and given absolutely no will to ‘live’, just hang around and get the freebies and ‘hope’ for the opportunity to ‘tear shiite up’, just to get in ‘Whiteys’ face.
I am afraid there is a 2014+ version of Concord Green coming and ‘Paul Revere’ won’t have to leave his house to spread the word.....
It won’t be ‘Don’t fire till you see the ‘whites’ of their eyes’, it will be “When you see someone in a hoodie in 100 degree weather, wisely discharge some of your ammo”.
This mismaladministration has managed to worsen a long running ‘crisis’ in the cities, added with the invasion from the southern border we may be in for some memorable times.
Who was it that said all they had to do was sit back and watch is ‘destroy ourselves from within’?
Weird - why are they all tilting the same way?
Mob rule? I see both points—let them “burn off” that energy; after all, it’s only property, versus apply force and possibly exacerbate the situation. I do not support this stand by and let the widespread destruction occur of property and people’s forms of livelihood. This mentality also sends a clear message that has enabled flash mob thefts. Utter nonsense.
‘Swat Team’ vs the Twatter team!
And I the taxpayer pay for everything.
That's funny on SO many levels.
I’m glad you liked it boop. Here’s the link ...
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