St. Louis Metropolitan police arrested and deployed pepper spray on several people at St. Louis City Hall, who were protesting against police brutality and the Ferguson grand jury decision.
The protestors had stopped at City Hall as part of their march around the downtown area, which started at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, November 26. After being denied entrance into the building, protestors sat down on the steps and chanted, “No justice, no peace.” Ten minutes later, law enforcement from the Sheriff’s Office and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department formed a semi-circle around the protest site.
Shortly after, SWAT police in riot gear marched across the street from the St. Louis police building. They then formed a line on the street in front of City Hall.
Snow fell as several people yelled, “We are not unlawful.” The group of about 100 people included elders, infants and young children.
Derek Laney, organizer with Missourians for Reform and Empowerment (MORE), said when he saw the circle form, he knew they were going to start arresting people. Laney was there with his 9-year-old daughter and immediately got her out of range.
“It was another example of over-policing of people who were peacefully assembling to show their outrage at the grand jury’s decision,” he said.
After forming a line, a SWAT officer stepped forward and yelled in a hoarse voice that they had one minute to disperse. By then, the protestors were on their feet and several started to leave. One young black woman yelled at him, “Whose building? Our building.”
Three protestors were arrested for Failure to Disperse. One protestor was additionally charged with Assault 3rd on a Law Enforcement Officer.
After seeing the riot police marching up, MORE executive director Jeff Ordower called Mayor Francis Slay’s office in attempts to de-escalate the situation. He was told not to worry – that the police’s actions would “play out slowly.”
However, they did not. After arriving, the SWAT team only gave the one-minute warning before advancing on the group. Ordower said in the 20-something years that he has been organizing non-violent protests in the city, he had never seen anything like it.
“I have never seen riot cops called out for protestors doing nothing than trying to get into a public building,” he said. “It was deplorable. There’s only one reason why the mayor (Slay) is reacting this way. This is a protest about race.”
When the St. Louis American asked why police took action on the group so quickly, police spokeswoman Leah Freeman said, “Officers did not give multiple warnings to disperse and used pepper spray only after the gathering became unlawful and crimes were committed, such as the assault on a city marshal outside of City Hall.”
Video evidence reveals protestors shoving the marshal stationed at the entrance to City Hall.
As the group left City Hall, activist DeRay Mckesson walked up to a National Guardsman and said, “Protect us from them,” pointing to the police.
Several other protestors were just as shaken by the police’s aggressive action towards a peaceful group. Many compared the SWAT team’s behavior to a “police state.”
Earlier at the Old Courthouse, the group had held a mock trial for St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch and Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed unarmed Michael Brown Jr., 18, on Aug. 9. The mock judge found Wilson guilty of murder. They also found the Unified Command law enforcement team guilty of excessive force, attempted murder and tampering with evidence.
After the mock trial, the group marched on Market Street and shut down the intersection of Market and Tucker Boulevard for 4.5 minutes, representing the 4.5 hours that Brown’s body lay dead in Canfield Drive before police removed it.
