About 150 people rallied outside the Ferguson Police Department on October 22 to demanding justice for the murdered unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown, and the arrest of the police officer who shot him, Darren Wilson.
Part of the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, similar protests were held in Sacramento, San Francisco, New York, among others.
The protests were organised by the Ferguson October movement, an African American-led movement demanding a halt to police vience against Black people.
During October, the movement organised marches and gatherings to protest around the country.
The Brown family asked the protesters to rally peacefully and calmly, “even though we understand people may have feelings of anger or disappointment”.
On August 9, Wilson, a white police officer, shot and killed the 18-year-old Brown in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Since then, thousands of people have marched in Ferguson and other cities demanding justice.
On October 21, the St Louis Post-Dispatch leaked the autopsy of Brown, which was done by the St Louis County medical examiner. The autopsy claimed that Brown's hand tissue showed particles “consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm”.
But the autopsy noted there was no residue often left by guns fired at close range.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney of the Brown family, said the autopsy was not surprising given that several witnesses said there was an altercation at the patrol car.
Returning the debate to the key issue of the nature of Ferguson policing, he added: “What we want to know is why Officer Wilson shot Michael Brown multiple times and killed him even though he was more than 20 feet away from his patrol car; this is the crux of the matter.”
Activists have been even more forthright, slamming the leak of an autopsy report as a move to gain support for officer Wilson.
“It is intentional that they are leaking this stuff,” said Tory Russell, an organiser of Hands Up United, which has called for Wilson to be charged. “At every turn they are saying Mike Brown was a bad guy and deserved to die.”
[Reprinted from TeleSUR English.]
Like the article? Subscribe to Green Left now! You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.