Michael Brown's death and civil unrest in north St. Louis

[Mack Kilimaro]

Is the Governor of Missouri dead or something? Is he not watching his state? I'd be on the phone and firing everyone in my sphere of influence until someone made it stop immediately.

[Trebla]

Ferguson is in turmoil and the Chief of Police is live on Hannity being Hannitized. Nice softball questions.

[kairparavel]

Is the Governor of Missouri dead or something? Is he not watching his state? I'd be on the phone and firing everyone in my sphere of influence until someone made it stop immediately.

He's busy. I mean, it's a big state. And there's the 4H to consider.

https://twitter.com/GovJayNixon

[Queen Ayras Lord Commander]

He's busy. I mean, it's a big state. And there's the 4H to consider.

https://twitter.com/GovJayNixon

So not a word all day, yet he tweeted about mundane things? Now no one actually believes he writes those tweets, but it's still telling.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Trebla,

Ferguson is in turmoil and the Chief of Police is live on Hannity being Hannitized. Nice softball questions.

And people wonder why I refuse to vote Republican.

[Summah]

It seems like from everything I'm seeing that the police response to the protests in response to another young black man killed by the the police are making the whole situation much worse. When they come out in riot gear and throw tear gas into a crowd that tends to cause protests to become less peaceful. Also arresting reporters tends to get really bad press.

[Trebla]

Al Jazeera journalists teargassed by security forces — in Ferguson, Missouri, USA. http://www.vox.com/2014/8/13/6001193/al-jazeera-journalists-teargassed-by-security-forces-in-ferguson

[Queen Ayras Lord Commander]

Al Jazeera journalists teargassed by security forces — in Ferguson, Missouri, USA. http://www.vox.com/2014/8/13/6001193/al-jazeera-journalists-teargassed-by-security-forces-in-ferguson

The cops place all their cameras face down too.

[Starkess]

This is all so ridiculous and terrifying. WTF, Missouri. WTF.

[Suttree]

Ferguson, Missouri joins Tehran as one of two cities in the world where a Washington Post reporter has been arrested this year.

Over the past few months, Washington Post reporters, hundreds of whom work across the globe, have been arrested in exactly two cities: Tehran, Iran, and Ferguson, Missouri, United States of America. That should tell you something about the ongoing crisis in Ferguson.

On Wednesday, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery was reportedly arrested along with Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post for failing to exit a McDonalds. According to Lowery's Twitter account, the two were "assaulted and arrested" because "officers decided we weren't leaving McDonalds quickly enough, shouldn't have been taping them." No charges were filed.

[Shryke]

Trebla,

And people wonder why I refuse to vote Republican.

They do?

I thought the reasons were obvious to anyone but the deliberately oblivious.

[Paladin of Ice]

Account of reporters from Washington Post and Huffington Post being arrested. Our entire system and philosophy of policing needs to be rethought and revamped.

For the past week in Ferguson, reporters have been using the Mc Donald’s a few blocks from the scene of Michael Brown’s shooting as a staging area. Demonstrations have blown up each night nearby. But inside there’s Wi Fi and outlets, so it’s common for reporters to gather there. That was the case Wednesday. My phone was just about to die, so as I charged it, I used the time to respond to people on Twitter and do a little bit of a Q&A since I wasn’t out there covering the protests.

As I sat there, many armed officers came in — some who were dressed as normal officers, others who were dressed with more gear. Initially, both Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post and I were asked for identification. I was wearing my lanyard, but Ryan asked why he had to show his ID. They didn’t press the point, but one added that if we called 911, no one would answer. Then they walked away. Moments later, the police reemerged, telling us that we had to leave.

I pulled my phone out and began recording video. An officer with a large weapon came up to me and said, “Stop recording.” I said, “Officer, do I not have the right to record you?” He backed off but told me to hurry up. So I gathered my notebook and pens with one hand while recording him with the other hand. As I exited, I saw Ryan to my left, having a similar argument with two officers. I recorded him, too, and that angered the officer. As I made my way toward the door, the officers gave me conflicting information. One instructed me to exit to my left. As I turned left, another officer emerged, blocking my path. “Go another way, ” he said. As I turned, my backpack, which was slung over one shoulder, began to slip. I said, “Officers, let me just gather my bag.” As I did, one of them said, “Okay, let’s take him.”

Multiple officers grabbed me. I tried to turn my back to them to assist them in arresting me. I dropped the things from my hands. “My hands are behind my back, ” I said. “I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting.” At which point one officer said: “You’re resisting. Stop resisting.” That was when I was most afraid — more afraid than of the tear gas and rubber bullets. As they took me into custody, the officers slammed me into a soda machine, at one point setting off the Coke dispenser. They put plastic cuffs on me, then they led me out the door. I could see Ryan still talking to an officer. I said: “Ryan, tweet that they’re arresting me, tweet that they’re arresting me.” He didn’t have an opportunity, because he was arrested as well. The officers led us outside to a police van. Inside, there was a large man sitting on the floor between the two benches. He began screaming: “I can’t breathe! Call a paramedic! Call a paramedic!” Ryan and I asked the officers if they intended to help the man. They said he was fine. The screaming went on for the 10 to 15 minutes we stood outside the van. “I’m going to die!” he screamed. “I’m going to die! I can’t breathe! I’m going to die!”

[delete this account pls]

edit: nm

[Arkhangel]

Wow. I had no idea this was happening until today, it's shocking.

[Solmyr]

All I can do is pass my condolences to the people, who are unfortunate enough to live near and be subject to such wanton police brutality.

[CloudFlare]

The cops weren't in riot gear tonight. They were carrying their rifles, not riot shields and batons. A lot of them were in short sleeves and bullet proof vests, not riot armor. Given how close they were in the street tonight, this was very dangerous. If the protestors had rushed the armored car it would've turned into a bloodbath, the use of force continuum would have gone near instantaneously to lethal.

This whole situation is bizarre. It reminds me of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, or Waco.

[Prosesskrift]

The thought of police turning live weapons on protestors in the US is terrifying, but even with the stories coming out of Ferguson I firmly believe that the US is too civilized a place for that to happen.

[Winter's Knight]

Police are launching smoke and stun grenades.

eta: Follow Antonio French on Twitter. He's got the video on Vine

Antonio French has been arrested and is on 24-hour hold.

Apparently, for "unlawful assembly".

[Howdyphillip]

The cops weren't in riot gear tonight. They were carrying their rifles, not riot shields and batons. A lot of them were in short sleeves and bullet proof vests, not riot armor. Given how close they were in the street tonight, this was very dangerous. If the protestors had rushed the armored car it would've turned into a bloodbath, the use of force continuum would have gone near instantaneously to lethal.

This whole situation is bizarre. It reminds me of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, or Waco.

What in the ever loving name of fuck are you talking about? Do you really think that riot helmets and gas masks aren't riot gear because a person is wearing short sleeves with their flak jacket. They weren't carrying batons because they were busy firing rubber bullets and tear gas out of freaking grenade launchers into an unarmed crowd.

Oh, they didn't have shields taking on a crowd of unarmed people. I'm sure that if the crowd would have attacked, the automatic weapons that they had would have served them fairly well behind the cover of their military transport vehicles. I could see that a bloodbath could occur, I just think that it would have very little to do with the police taking casualties,

[Free Northman Reborn]

What in the ever loving name of fuck are you talking about? Do you really think that riot helmets and gas masks aren't riot gear because a person is wearing short sleeves with their flak jacket. They weren't carrying batons because they were busy firing rubber bullets and tear gas out of freaking grenade launchers into an unarmed crowd.

Oh, they didn't have shields taking on a crowd of unarmed people. I'm sure that if the crowd would have attacked, the automatic weapons that they had would have served them fairly well behind the cover of their military transport vehicles. I could see that a bloodbath could occur, I just think that it would have very little to do with the police taking casualties,

I think you totally misinterpreted that post.

What Cloudfare appears to be saying, is that it is irresponsible of the police to not have non-lethal riot gear like batons, shields and other riot control gear deployed. Going straight to rifles and vests, while wearing short sleeved shirts instead of riot armor, essentially means that there is no possibility of a force continuum application here.

Meaning that if the crowd makes an aggressive move, it is straight to opening fire on them with rifles, which would result in massive casualties. This means the police aren't following the correct protocol, or the guys that are deployed are not trained riot control officers.