Dozens of protesters clashed again late Friday with police after another tense day in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, in America’s Missouri state, following the slaying of black teenager Michael Brown at the hands of the police on August 9.
While the police have named the officer involved in the shooting death of Michael Brown, they did not release his photo. On the other hand, they were quick to release images from the store’s security video that they say show Brown grabbing a man inside the store and allegedly stealing a $48.99 box of cigars. This unwarranted move has increased tensions that had slowly been easing, and has led to well-founded allegations from the victim’s family about “character assassination”. The entire episode smacks of a trend in the police force to use weapons and excessive force while dealing with such situations.
The American Civil Liberties Union in June released a report showing that police were relying increasingly on raids involving the use of assault rifles and stun grenades for relatively routine work such as searching for small amounts of drugs. This attitude must change. Besides, the racial angle is not lost on observers either.
