This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/14/obama-ferguson-police-excessive-force-michael-brown

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Obama: 'No excuse' for Ferguson police to use excessive force Obama: 'No excuse' for Ferguson police to use excessive force
(35 minutes later)
Barack Obama said there was “no excuse for police to use excessive force”, after a fourth night of confrontation in Ferguson, Missouri, over the death of an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown. The governor of Missouri pledged changes to the tone of policing at demonstrations against the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old, as Barack Obama on Thursday added his voice to widespread criticism of a military-style crackdown.
“We lost a young man in heartbreaking and tragic circumstances,” Obama said of Brown, who was shot dead by police on Saturday. “He was 18 years old and his family will never hold Michael in their arms again.” Addressing the confrontations in the town of Ferguson, Obama said that while looting and violence against law enforcement officials was unacceptable, there was “no excuse” for police to use excessive force in response.
He said there was no excuse for violence against police, but equally there was “no excuse for police to use excessive force” in response. “We lost a young man in heartbreaking and tragic circumstances,” Obama said of Michael Brown, shot dead by police on Saturday. “He was 18 years old and his family will never hold Michael in their arms again.”
Appealing for calm, he said: “Now’s the time for healing, now’s the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson.” He also condemned the arrest of reporters. “Here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs.” Appealing for calm, he said: “Now’s the time for healing, now’s the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson.”
Obama’s comments came a fourth night of confrontation in Ferguson, where residents of the majority black town of 21,000 people have been protesting against the killing of Brown by an officer from the overwhelmingly white police force.Obama’s comments came a fourth night of confrontation in Ferguson, where residents of the majority black town of 21,000 people have been protesting against the killing of Brown by an officer from the overwhelmingly white police force.
The response to the protest had been led by the St Louis County police force, which has deployed snipers, armoured vehicles and officers in military combat gear to quell protests on successive evenings since the Brown’s death on Saturday. Two reporters, with the Washington Post and the Huffington Post, were arrested on Wednesday night.The response to the protest had been led by the St Louis County police force, which has deployed snipers, armoured vehicles and officers in military combat gear to quell protests on successive evenings since the Brown’s death on Saturday. Two reporters, with the Washington Post and the Huffington Post, were arrested on Wednesday night.
The governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, was due to make a statement about the police response on Thursday, amid speculation that he was to removed the St Louis police department from the lead role in responding to the protests. Obama condemned the arrest of reporters. “Here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs.”
“The worsening situation in Ferguson is deeply troubling,” said Nixon in a statement on Wednesday evening. “While we all respect the solemn responsibility of our law enforcement officers to protect the public, we must also safeguard the rights of Missourians to peaceably assemble, and the rights of the press to report on matters of public concern.” The Missouri governor, Jay Nixon said in brief remarks at a community church service that there would be an “operational shift” to law enforcement in a city where demonstrations have raged over the police shooting of Michael Brown last weekend. “I think you all will see a different tone,” said Nixon.
He urged law enforcement agencies to “keep the peace and respect the rights of residents and the press”. Nixon is expected to announce on Thursday afternoon that St Louis County police will be withdrawn from Ferguson following four nights of clashes with protesters and the repeated firing of teargas and rubber bullets.
The senior US senator for Missouri, Claire McCaskill, said she had been working to “demilitarise” the situation. She said on Thursday: “This kind of response by the police has become the problem instead of the solution. I obviously respect law enforcement’s work to provide public safety, but my constituents are allowed to have peaceful protests, and the police need to respect that right and protect that right. Today is going to be a new start, we can and need to do better”. The senior US senator for Missouri, Claire McCaskill, said she had been working to “demilitarise” the situation. She said on Thursday: “This kind of response by the police has become the problem instead of the solution. I obviously respect law enforcement’s work to provide public safety, but my constituents are allowed to have peaceful protests, and the police need to respect that right and protect that right. Today is going to be a new start, we can and need to do better.”
Protesters took the the streets after Brown was shot dead by police Saturday afternoon. Police have refused to release the name of the officer involved in the shooting, citing concerns for the officer’s safety. McCaskill told reporters that it was her understanding that Nixon would be pulling out the county police, as Congressman Lacy Clay told Bloomberg News earlier on Thursday. It remained unclear which agency or force will take control of the Ferguson crisis.
On Wednesday night, dozens of officers, some carrying assault rifles, advanced with a pair of armoured trucks on the young and predominantly African American crowd in Fergsuon, after two glass bottles were thrown at their lines from a largely peaceful protest. Heavily armed police officers from various forces fired gas canisters, rubber bullets and pepper balls at hundreds of young, predominantly African American protesters for several hours on Wednesday night after bottles were thrown at them from a largely peaceful protest.
For hours, police snipers trained their weapons on demonstrators who protested with their hands up as an emblem of peaceful protest. Protesters described being subjected to military-style tactics as they fled through gas-filled residential side-streets. The crowd had gathered in the centre of Ferguson, a suburb of 21,000 people north of St Louis, to again demonstrate their fury at the shooting of Brown last Saturday. Police say that Brown was shot after assaulting the officer. But a friend who was walking with him, and witnesses to the shooting, say that he was shot repeatedly while attempting to run away from the struggle.
Two reporters were arrested as they were working in a McDonald’s near the scene of the protests. The officer, a member of the 53-strong Ferguson city force, has not been named and the police have declined to offer a detailed timeline of what happened. The lack of information being made public has seemed only to inflame the protests.
Several members of the crowds who fled Ferguson to escape the crackdown, a city with a population that is two-thirds black, told the Guardian on Wednesday night that they felt under fire from a militarised and almost unanimously white police force.
However the city force was defended by Mayor James Knowles, who said that they were “under a great deal of stress” and dealing with “a lot of unlawfulness”.
“I can’t second-guess these officers,” Knowles told MSNBC. “They are the professionals. They have learned from many years of dealing with these incidents across the nation. We’re just going to have to try our best to maintain order, and we ask the citizens to help us comply with that.”
Responding to criticism of the police tactics, Brian Schellman, a spokesman for St Louis County police, said on Thursday that commanders on the ground had authorised “whatever force was necessary for the situation”.
“Luckily for both sides, there’s been no lethal force used,” Schellman told the Guardian. “But what has been used is things like molotov cocktails. Those are deadly weapons. So the police response to the molotov cocktails was less lethal munitions. We’re not using deadly force when a deadly force molotov cocktail was used on us.”
Schellman could not confirm that any molotov cocktails or bottles had actually struck any officers. “But does that make it OK for people to throw? I don’t know,” he said. “To me it doesn’t. It doesn’t make it OK. To say ‘it doesn’t really matter because they didn’t hurt any of the officers’, we can’t think like that.
“So, do we have to wait until one of our officers gets hurt? That’s the big question here.” Asked if he meant that the answer was “no,” Schellman said: “Absolutely.”Speaking late on Wednesday night at the police command centre, Schellman said officers had used “as much restraint as we could given the situation,” adding: “We have not had any violent uses of force ... no gunshots, no using batons in an aggressive manor, and no civilians injured.”
There was growing anger on Thursday at the arrest of two journalists, detained as they were working in a McDonald’s near the scene of the protests.
“That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news,” said Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron about the arrest of reporter Wesley Lowery. “We are appalled by the conduct of police officers involved.”“That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news,” said Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron about the arrest of reporter Wesley Lowery. “We are appalled by the conduct of police officers involved.”
The Huffington Post called the arrests, including that of its reporter Ryan Reilly, the result of police militarization that is “now beginning to affect press freedom”.The Huffington Post called the arrests, including that of its reporter Ryan Reilly, the result of police militarization that is “now beginning to affect press freedom”.
The reporters were seen being loaded into an unmarked police van. They were later released without charge. The reporters were seen being loaded into an unmarked police van. They were later released without charge, apparently after the intervention of the Ferguson police chief.
Separately, the Guardian witnessed teargas being shot directly at a camera crew with al-Jazeera America. Photographs later showed police officers dismantling al-Jazaeera’s broadcasting equipment after the crew fled.Separately, the Guardian witnessed teargas being shot directly at a camera crew with al-Jazeera America. Photographs later showed police officers dismantling al-Jazaeera’s broadcasting equipment after the crew fled.