Armed militia back on the streets of Ferguson

“That’s not going to happen”.

Rallies were mostly peaceful, but late on Monday police carrying shields rushed a crowd of protesters prompting many to scream and run. The officers were uninjured, but all were placed on administrative leave.

County Police Chief John Belmar said their presence was both unnecessary and inflammatory. Smoke has been used to clear out groups of protesters in the Ferguson streets.

“Officers are being hit with rocks and bottles”.

Reaction from protesters was mixed.

Harris’ father, Tyrone Harris Sr., said his son got caught up in a dispute between two groups of people and was “running for his life”, according to the Associated Press. “So with that said, I think key to a lot of this was Jon Belmar and his top staff repeatedly went to the crowd and tried to de-escalate”.

“This is treatment we’ve been putting up with forever”, Myers said.

The St. Louis suburb thoroughfare was the focus of months of massive protests and sometimes violent unrest last summer after the killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer, which sparked a nationwide protest movement and a fierce debate over how police treat minorities. He is accused of firing into an unmarked police van.

The four officers in the van fired back, then pursued him on foot. Shots were exchanged between Harris and the officers during the altercation, resulting in serious injuries for Harris, who remains in police custody at the hospital.

Rhodes countered that the group didn’t need a license because it was composed of unpaid volunteers who were helping “the weak” protect private property. “Their (police) tactics were going to have to change”.

Those arrested included national activist Cornel West, and protest leaders Deray Mckesson and Johnetta Elzie. The “Moral Monday” demonstrations had long been planned as part of the anniversary.

The death of Brown and a grand jury’s decision to spare the white officer from criminal charges led to a wave of demonstrations that boiled over into rioting and arson at times and spawned sympathy rallies across the country. “We continue to support free speech, but agitators who ignore orders to disperse risk arrest”, tweeted the St Louis County police department.

Members of heavily armed civilians talk to members of the media as protesters gather along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo., Tuesday, August 11, 2015.

Still, police still arrested almost two dozen people on Monday night.

At one point, the group began marching aggressively toward police.

Early Monday evening, hundreds of protesters were chanting, beating drums and carrying signs.

“What did I do?”

“It’s stressful. It’s so frustrating”, said Dellena Jones, whose West Florissant Avenue hair salon was one of the businesses that was targeted, ABC News reported. “It’s a matter of getting them removed and taking down their barriers”, he said of the protesters. The city has also said it has made it easier for residents to apply for penalty reductions on fines imposed by city agencies.

Monday’s police presence was far more conspicuous compared with Sunday night. Officers lined several blocks of West Florissant, rather than staying confined to a smaller area.

According to the Oath Keepers website, the Las Vegas-based group is composed of 30,000 “current and formerly serving military, police and first responders who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to ‘defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'” Their motto: “Not on our watch!” Stenger expressed a similar view.

The armed patrols were from the far-right anti-government activist group, in which Belmar questioned prosecutor Bob McCulloch about their legality. Ferguson was a community on edge again Monday, a day after a protest marking the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death was punctua… Johnson took over after the county’s initial response was criticized as too heavy handed.

The executive order put Belmar in charge of police operations in Ferguson and the surrounding areas.