Four people were arrested — two 22-year-old men, a 24-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman — during protests outside the Ferguson Police Department on Sunday, August 9. It was the sixth anniversary of Michael Brown’s shooting death.
At one point in the evening, about 100 protestors were chanting and drumming and police officers were standing back. Michael Brown’s father, also named Michael Brown, was also among the group as well. It was a moment that both activists and journalists were calling “chill,” according to livestream videos and posts on social media.
Then police officers in riot gear — which included some St. Louis County SWAT team members — advanced towards the protestors and asked the group to move behind the sidewalk. Without warning, about a dozen officers ran towards the protestors and tackled a protestor in the lawn. Other officers followed with shields and guns drawn.
As protestors ran away, some were grabbed from behind and others sprayed in the face with pepper spray, according to a video posted on Twitter.
“Escalation is still what they’re doing,” said activist Ohun Ashe in a post. “Over-policing and terrorizing is still what they’re doing years later, and it’s unacceptable.”
Ashe said she wasn’t even livestreaming before the police had started advancing towards protestors because nothing was happening.
“People were sitting down,” she said in her livestream.
People called out to the police, “What did you all do that for? We were chilling!”
According to KSDK, police said some people in this smaller group ignored their warnings to not enter the property. At this point, police said some people in the crowd started throwing objects at officers.
According to videos and the Post-Dispatch, objects were thrown after the police advanced.
Earlier in the day, the Chosen for Change Michael Brown Foundation held a memorial service at the site where Mike Brown Jr. was shot and killed by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014.
“Thank you for honoring Mike Brown Jr., as well as all of those who we’ve lost in this fight of community violence and police brutality,” said Jana Gamble, vice president of communications for the Michael Brown Foundation and a close family friend. “And all of those frontliners who have stood with us.”
