A Night in Ferguson: Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas, and a Jail Cell
Late Monday evening, after many of the major media outlets covering the protests in Ferguson, Mo., had left the streets to broadcast from their set-ups near the police command center, heavily armed officers raced through suburban streets in armored vehicles, chasing demonstrators, launching tear gas on otherwise quiet residential lanes, and shooting at journalists.
Their efforts resulted in one of the largest nightly arrest totals since protests began 10 days ago over the killing of unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. At approximately 2 a.m. local time, Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson announced at a press conference that 31 people had been arrested over the course of the night (NBC News later reported that, according to jail records, the actual total was more than double that). I was unable to attend or report on Johnson’s press conference because I was one of those people.
Here’s what happened.
At roughly midnight, protesters and journalists were gathered on W. Florissant Ave., which has been ground zero for the ongoing protests. After laying down a heavy cloud of tear gas, police officials began announcing over loudspeakers that they intended to clear the area, citing a “public safety issue.” When some reporters pressed for clarification, multiple senior officers referred to “shots fired,” though they offered no specifics. The cable news crews on the street broke their gear down and left, as did just about everybody else.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/08/19/ferguson/
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