Protester in St Louis area charged with arson

Clayton, Missouri: A protester who advocated for peaceful demonstrations in Ferguson has been charged with setting fire to a convenience store in a neighbouring suburb.

A St Louis County jail official said 19-year-old Joshua Williams was being held on Saturday on $30,000 (Dh110,188) bond on charges that included arson.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch reported that media outlets and store surveillance captured images of a man trying to set a pile of wood on fire early Wednesday outside a QuikTrip convenience store in Berkeley. Charges filed on Saturday said Williams confessed in a videotaped interview.

Berkeley police shot and killed a man late Tuesday at a gas station near the QuikTrip, and a large crowd gathered to protest.

Williams was frequently quoted and photographed protesting Michael Brown’s death.

It wasn’t immediately known if Williams had an attorney.