Ferguson Protesters Send Peaceful And Powerful Message To Law Enforcement

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Photos by Justin Baragona

PoliticusUSA’s Justin Baragona was on the scene during a protest march through downtown St. Louis Friday morning. At least 50 protesters gathered in Kiener Plaza at 10:30 AM local time and marched to City Hall. When they arrived at City Hall, they were greeted by a line of police officers in riot gear. One officer wore a ‘Wilson’ name patch on his shoulder. However, he also had a name tag that read ‘Coats.’ Obviously, the officer was sending a statement regarding Darren Wilson, the former Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the officer will be disciplined by the St. Louis Metro Police Department for violating policy.

After a short rally at City Hall, the march made its way to the Thomas F. Eagleton US Courthouse to send a message to the Department of Justice, which is still investigating Wilson and the Ferguson police department. Police officers blocked the entrance of the courthouse with metal barricades and tape. Protesters chanted in front of the courthouse for a while and also delivered signed letters to the DOJ.

The demonstrators, many of them dressed up in costumes, named the protest ‘A Carnival of Injustice.’ Per the organizers, if law enforcement and the court system aren’t going to treat the protesters seriously, they were then going to give them a circus. Besides costumes, some protesters handed out popcorn and peanuts, while others carried balloons and elaborately painted banners with circus themes.

The march concluded when protesters blocked off a busy intersection and performed a ‘die-in’ in the middle of the street. The demonstrators laid motionless in the street for 4-1/2 minutes to commemorate the four and a half hours Brown’s dead body remained on the street where he was killed.

Below are images from the protest: