Demonstrators protesting the shooting death of Michael Brown hold placards as they walk through a local Walmart store on Black Friday in Ferguson, Missouri. Some local businesses remain closed to consumers in Ferguson as tensions remain high in the community after Brown was fatally wounded by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer, on August 9.
Reuters
Protesters in Ferguson, Missouri began targeting Black Friday sales at major retailers overnight in a new tactic to vent their anger at a grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teen.
Kicking off their latest strategy inside a Walmart in another nearby suburb of St Louis, about 75 demonstrators protested peacefully, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot!”, bemusing bargain-hunters pushing their brimming shopping carts.
They dispersed peacefully when ordered by a small group of police, moving on to a Target store where they staged a similar demonstration.
More protests were planned for today.
Ferguson became a flashpoint for often troubled US race relations after officer Darren Wilson shot dead Michael Brown on August 9.
The US Justice Department is probing possible civil rights abuses, and President Barack Obama has called for reflection on the difficulties minorities face in the country.
The grand jury’s decision on Monday not to charge Wilson prompted a spasm of fury in Ferguson.
About a dozen businesses were torched and more than 100 people were arrested in clashes with riot police that rumbled on into Tuesday night.
However, Wednesday and yesterday were far quieter, with no major incidents reported.
Before heading in convoy to Walmart late on Thursday, a group of some 100 demonstrators ate Thanksgiving dinner, sang, prayed and discussed their new strategy in the basement of a St Louis church.
“We are bruised but not broken,” said Cathy Daniels, a woman known to the activists as “Momma Cat” who prepared the food. “We are regrouping. We are not going to take this lying down.”
