US Attorney General Eric Holder travelled to St Louis, Missouri on Wednesday after the latest in a sting of violent protests over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager. Holder, the top US law enforcement officer, was expected to visit the St Louis suburb of Ferguson even as a grand jury investigation into the death was to get underway.
Holder, who is himself African American, is to oversee the federal response to the August 9 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Also on Wednesday, a grand jury will begin hearing witnesses to Brown's killing, with widespread calls for the police officer, Darren Wilson, to be put on trial for murder. Brown's remains are undergoing three separate autopsies - by local authorities, the family and Holder's Justice Department.
In an op-ed column in the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper Wednesday, Holder pledged what he called a full, fair and independent investigation. "And beyond the investigation itself, we will work with the police, civil rights leaders and members of the public to ensure that this tragedy can give rise to new understanding - and robust action - aimed at bridging persistent gaps between law enforcement officials and the communities we serve," he wrote.
In Tuesday's protest three guns were seized and protesters threw glass and plastic bottles of water and urine at police towards the end of the demo, prompting officers to intervene and make the arrests, said Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol. But Johnson stressed that, unlike during a violent protest on Monday night, this time protesters did not fire guns at police and officers refrained from using tear gas to break up the rally.
"Tonight we saw a different dynamic," he said. He attributed this to a concerted effort by community leaders, activists and clergy to keep the rally peaceful and prevent it from being taken over by what he described as violent "agitators". Fears that the fatal police shooting of a knife-wielding black man in St. Louis itself on Tuesday might renew tensions failed to materialise, after successive nights of clashes with police in Ferguson.
"Hands up, don't shoot!" protesters chanted, holding their hands in the air in what has become the signature slogan of Ferguson's frustration with its overwhelmingly white police department. Meanwhile Brown's family was preparing for his funeral, which their lawyer said would take place on Monday. In contrast to previous nights, rather than firing tear gas head-on into the crowd, police with riot shields and armoured vehicles kept a lower profile.
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