I realize your posts weren’t addressed to me directly, but I want to clarify something anyway.
Under MO law, the protesters gathered tonight were guilty of disturbing the peace by simply standing in the street and blocking traffic.
Under MO law, when six or more of them agreed to violate state law by force or violence, they were guilty of unlawful assembly and when they actually used said force or committed said violence, they were guilty of rioting. (Well, not guilty until convicted, but you get the point.)
I have no problem with the police clearing the area. In fact, they first addressed the disturbance of peace by telling the protesters to get on the sidewalk and out of the street. Then they let it slide for quite a while when the protesters moved back into the street. Then they told them to get back from police vehicles at least 25 feet. That’s all well and good.
The problems, for me at least, were:
- pointing their rifles directly at protesters when no laws were being broken
- immediately launching (a whole of) tear gas when one person threw a bottle at the SWAT truck (Why not arrest the one person? It was one not six.)
- intimidating, assaulting, and arresting journalists
- illegally ordering journalists to turn off cameras
- choosing and using an extreme show of force when (a significantly) lesser force was an option
- a good deal more that it is too late to get into
In Ferguson, both sides are in the wrong. I will not pick a side. I choose justice and peace.
also, molatov cocktails were being thrown - if you page down thru the videos/pics there is an AP pic of a man at a bus stop with a molatov in-hand (Jeff Roberson/AP photo).
http://abcnews.go.com/US/violence-ferguson-police-fire-smoke-bombs-tear-gas/story?id=24973522