St. Louis police arrest nearly 143 'Black Lives Matter' protesters
Scores of protesters have been arrested in St. Louis, Missouri, where mass demonstrations have been held recently over the acquittal of a white policeman who had fatally shot a black man in 2011.
The arrests on Tuesday night came after protesters blocked a major highway and later began marching north.
They were chanting: “We don’t see a riot here. Why are you in riot gear?” and “Touch one, touch all.”
They were also carrying signs that said, “Black Lives Matter.”
Police systematically handcuffed 143 people and packed them into about a dozen police vans, according to St. Louis Alderman John Collins-Muhammad.
Among protesters were the Rev. Starsky Wilson and State Rep. Bruce Franks, who has been one of the leaders of the ongoing protests since the not-guilty verdict last month in the murder trial of former city patrolman Jason Stockley.
Stockley, 36, was charged with first-degree murder for killing Anthony Lamar Smith, 24. The officer quit the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in 2013 and was arrested in May 2016. Stockley was also accused of planting a gun in Smith's car.
Steven Hoffmann, a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild who was also among those arrested, told reporters he did not know what charge he might face.
He questioned why he and others were taken into custody, saying he was not even part of the protests. He also said he was waiting on the sidewalk like many other who were arrested.
So far, police have not released any information about the situation of the protesters who were taken into custody.
The deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police over the past years have sparked nationwide protests under the banner of Black Lives Matter movement.
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