A swift and dramatic response by St. Louis County Police, the near arrest of Huffington Post justice reporter Ryan Reilly and the arrival of armed members of The Oathkeepers were among the most climactic moments of the protests on W. Florissant Avenue in Ferguson Monday night.
Last night’s demonstrations ended well considering the palpable tension level between police and protesters for the fourth consecutive night of individuals flooding West Florissant in the wake of the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson.
Earlier in the afternoon St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a State of Emergency St. Louis County – which came with an executive order that placed The St. Louis County Police in charge of protest details for the evening.
The St. Louis County Tactical Operations Unit returned to the scene as well, but they were not deployed at any point during the protests.
The State of Emergency didn’t discourage protesters – and at about 8 p.m. the first of several confrontations between protesters and police began with a standoff in the middle of West Florissant near McDonald’s.
Protesters were commanded to leave the street because of obstruction of traffic, after a brief standoff the protesters retreated to the side of the street.
At 10 p.m. St. Louis County Police, who were dressed in riot gear for the evening, commanded that protesters clear the roadway and keep their demonstrations relegated to the sidewalk.
Another standoff ensued. Water bottles were thrown at police and they responded with the swift, heavy handed takedown of several protesters.
Mace was also used, but no teargas was deployed.
Three more standoffs would be quelled with arrests as several formations of police were scattered among the several pockets of protesters that were gathered along West Florissant.
Huffington Post Justice Reporter Ryan Reilly was apprehended and nearly arrested from an officer in one of the mini formations. Soon after officers gave orders for protesters to stand back during an arrest of a young woman who was overcome by mace, Reilly attempted to show one of the officers his press badge.
The officer subsequently snatched the badge from Reilly’s neck, threw it to the ground and proceeded to grab his hands from behind for arrest.
“I’m media, I’m media,” Reilly shouted as the officer clasped his hands together preparing to zip tie him.
The incident occurred just feet away from the McDonald’s – where Reilly and Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery were accosted by law enforcement and arrested last year.
Protesters came to Reilly’s defense and another officer instructed the officer attempting to make the arrest to let him go.
The officer who attempted to arrest Reilly refused to give his name upon request.
The protests began to dwindle at about 1 a.m., but tensions were once again raised by those who remained when armed members of The Oath Keepers, a rumored white supremacy group, arrived on the scene openly bearing assault rifles.
Protesters expressed their anger at the police for not approaching the handful of men for bringing weapons to a tense protest environment.
The protests ended at around 2 a.m.
According to St. Louis County Police Department, 23 arrests were made during Monday night’s protests. 64 arrests were made during the I-70 #MoralMonday direct action organized by Millennial Activists United, bringing the total amount of protest related arrests to 87 in St. Louis County.
The St. Louis County also said that no injuries, property damage or gunfire were reported at any point during last night’s protests.
56 arrests were made in St. Louis City earlier in the afternoon during a sit in at the Thomas Eagleton Federal Court Building.
