Ferguson protests target Black Friday sales
Saturday 29 November 2014 07.38
Police in Ferguson, Missouri were out in force again overnight as demonstrators shut down a shopping centre near the town.
Activists around the US encouraged a boycott of Black Friday sales in protest at the decision by a grand jury not to indict a police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager.
The killing of Michael Brown, 18, has renewed a debate over race relations in the United States and triggered months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson and sympathy protests elsewhere.
More than 200 people in New York sought to disrupt shopping yesterday with a protest in front of the Macy's store in Herald Square and marched into the ground floor as staff and shoppers looked on in apparent surprise.
Demonstrators later marched through the streets of New York, and a police spokesman said officers arrested seven protesters for disorderly conduct.
Similar protests were staged in other cities, including Chicago, Seattle and Oakland, California, on Black Friday, when many retailers offer deep discounts and shoppers traditionally turn out in droves.
At the upmarket Galleria near St Louis, demonstrators chanted 'No Black Friday' before singing carols and then briefly lying on the floor, leading officials to close the centre.
National Guard troops were posted outside and security guards stopped anyone from entering.
Ferguson itself was more peaceful after more than 100 arrests on Monday and Tuesday, when some demonstrators reacted to the grand jury's decision by looting or burning businesses, and officers in riot gear fired tear gas and smoke bombs to disperse crowds.
Last night, about 100 protesters marched up and down the road outside the Ferguson police department.
As National Guardtroops in camouflage and combat helmets looked on, the crowd chanted: 'Soldiers, turn your guns around! Shoot this racist system down!'
Authorities ultimately arrested 15 protesters in Ferguson yesterday, after demonstrators failed to move from the streets, St Louis County police said.
Earlier, police had briefly reopened West Florissant Avenue, a main thoroughfare where most of the damaged or destroyed businesses are located, allowing clean-up efforts to begin and giving residents a glimpse of more burned-out stores.
In neighbouring Dellwood, the mayor called for state and federal aid for his city, where 13 businesses were burned on Monday and five were looted.
One Walmart shop near Ferguson decided to cancel Black Friday sales, and merchandise was moved to other locations in the St Louis area, employees said.
In Oakland, about 16 people were arrested after chaining themselves to a train during a demonstration at a Bay Area Rapid Transit rail station in protest, a BART spokeswoman said.
Later in San Francisco, protesters marched through the city's downtown, with some smashing windows at retailers in Union Square, police said.
Images broadcast by local television station ABC7 showed hundreds of demonstrators marching through the middle of a main city thoroughfare.
Police said there were multiple arrests, and added that an officer was struck in the face by a bottle and required stitches.
In Seattle, protesters chained shut at least two doors to the downtown Pacific Place centre, police said.
They later disrupted a tree-lighting ceremony at the nearby Westlake Center, which closed early.
Seattle police reported five arrests in the day's protests.
In Los Angeles, where more than 300 people have been arrested in Ferguson-related demonstrations this week, about 120 protesters marched through the streets. There were eight arrests, police said.
Post a Comment for "Ferguson protests target Black Friday sales"