http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-11-19/ferguson-demonstrations-set-for-federal-courthouses-across-u-s-.htmlFerguson Demonstrations Set for Federal Courthouses Across U.S.
By Mark Niquette, Toluse Olorunnipa and Henry Goldman - Nov 20, 2014
Demonstrations are planned in dozens of cities across the U.S. as a Missouri grand jury decides whether to indict a white police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager.
New York civil-rights activist Al Sharpton said his organization will hold vigils at federal courthouses in 25 U.S. cities. Internet sites are listing details of other gatherings to occur when there’s an announcement about whether Darren Wilson faces charges in the Aug. 9 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson.
The grand jury may reach a decision tomorrow and it may be disclosed two days later, CNN reported, citing law-enforcement officials it didn’t identify. Groups that formed after Brown’s death have spent days preparing for the decision with daily meetings, conference calls and online chats. Several have called for demonstrations that include shutting down streets and targeting corporations. Police are preparing for unrest.
“We are prepared to continue to mobilize,” Sharpton said during a press conference yesterday in New York. “We are calling for everyone to act in a strategic, disciplined, nonviolent way.”
National Web
About 11,000 people nationwide have signed up to get a text-message alert after the decision is disclosed, said DeRay McKesson, a protest leader from Minneapolis. The Ferguson National Response Network and Ferguson Action, a coalition of groups in the St. Louis area, list details of demonstrations in almost 90 cities in 34 states and Canada.
“This is a movement that, while it may have started in Ferguson, has expanded far wider than that,” said Leslie MacFadyen of Philadelphia, 38, who founded the Ferguson National Response Network. “These issues of police interaction in minority communities resonate in other communities.
McKesson, 29, said he expects protests to continue mostly peacefully. Protesters have learned how to contain those who want to take a more violent approach, he said.
Absent an indictment, ‘‘people will want to do more than march,’’ McKesson said. ‘‘But there’s a lot of room in between amped-up marching and bloodshed.’’
Handy Rights
In Los Angeles, where rioting in 1992 killed 53 people after the acquittals of four white officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson announced measures to prevent violence.
The group will dispatch ‘‘justice and peace’’ monitors to areas ravaged in the riots, Hutchinson said.
St. Louis police are preparing for any contingency. Mayor Francis Slay has called for 400 National Guard members to be positioned throughout the city. St. Louis County Police have spent more than $100,000 on riot gear and tear gas.
Since early October, about 500 officers have been trained on responding to disturbances, said Sergeant Brian Schellman, a county police spokesman. Training included ‘‘a review of the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments,’’ and officers will be carrying them on laminated cards.
In the Ferguson area, private meetings between police and community leaders have focused on ‘‘rules of engagement,’’ Slay said Nov. 18 in a letter to aldermen.
They have agreed on several proposed rules, including police giving ‘‘leeway to the protesters to occupy spaces to be disruptive, but not violent,’’ Slay said in the letter. St. Louis police have also agreed to wear normal uniforms, switching to riot gear only when necessary.
‘‘I do expect widespread civil disobedience and subsequent arrests for low-level municipal violations,’’ Slay wrote. ‘‘I do expect both police and the vast majority of the demonstrators will be nonviolent.’’
Sharpton said he will be with Brown’s family in Ferguson for the announcement. The role of the parents is important to the tone there, he said.
‘‘It’s very tense in Ferguson,” Sharpton said.
For Related News and Information: Missouri’s Nixon Vows to Guard Protesters’ Rights in Tone Shift Missouri Activates National Guard Ahead of Grand Jury Decision Missouri National Guard on Alert for Ferguson Unrest, Nixon Says Top Stories: TOP Missouri news: NI MO
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net; Toluse Olorunnipa in Tallahassee, Florida at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net; Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net
