REPORT: Police say 61 arrested in rioting around Ferguson, Missouri

Some 61 people were arrested during a night of unrest in the St. Louis suburbs following a grand jury's decision not to charge a white police officer for the fatal August shooting of an unarmed black teen, the St. Louis County Police Department said on Tuesday.      

People were arrested on charges ranging from unlawful assembly to arson and burglary during a night when angry crowds set fires to buildings and cars and looted businesses, while police responded with tear gas and flash-bang canisters.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said early on Tuesday that at least a dozen buildings were torched and that he counted about 150 gunshots during a night of looting, vandalism, arson and clashes between demonstrators and police that resulted in at least 29 arrests.

Flights over the area were restricted and police struggled to contain protesters who took to the streets of Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, smashing shop windows and torching cars and businesses despite President Barack Obama's calls for restraint.

Although no serious injuries were reported, Belmar said the rioting on Monday night and early Tuesday morning was "much worse" than disturbances which erupted in the immediate aftermath of the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9.

Protests were also staged on Monday night in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland, California, and Washington, D.C., over a case that has highlighted long-standing racial tensions not just in predominantly black Ferguson but across the United States.

"Murderers, you're nothing but murderers," one woman shouted through a megaphone at officers clad in riot gear in Ferguson, after the grand jury decision was announced.

Angry crowds gathered around the police department in Ferguson after the grand jury found there was no probable cause to charge Wilson with any crime in the shooting.

St. Louis police reported heavy gunfire late on Monday in the area near where Brown was slain, but Belmar said officers did not fire a shot, even after they were pelted with rocks, bottles, batteries and other debris.

Police did fire volleys of tear gas and flash-bang canisters.

Wilson could have faced charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to first-degree murder, and Brown's family said through their lawyers that they were "profoundly disappointed" by the grand jury's finding.

"While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change," the family said in a statement.

Attorneys for Wilson, who was placed on administrative leave and has avoided the spotlight since the shooting, said he was following his training and the law when he shot Brown.

"We recognize that many people will want to second-guess the grand jury's decision. We would encourage anyone who wants to express an opinion do so in a respectful and peaceful manner," the statement said.

As unrest flared following the announcement of the decision, Obama called for protesters to remain peaceful and for police to show restraint.

"We need to recognize that the situation in Ferguson speaks to broader challenges that we still face as a nation," the president told a televised news conference. "In too many parts of this country a deep distrust exists between police and communities of color."

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U.S. authorities need to tackle a "deep and festering" mistrust in some sectors of the population and examine how race relations affect law enforcement, the U.N.'s human rights chief said on Tuesday.         

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein at the United Nations said he was "deeply concerned at the disproportionate number of young African Americans who die in encounters with police officers, as well as the disproportionate number of African Americans in U.S. prisons and the disproportionate number of African Americans on Death Row."       

Under U.N. rules, police officers may only resort to intentional lethal use of firearms when strictly unavoidable to protect life, Zeid said in a statement, while protesters have no right to cause harm even if they disagreed with the verdict.        

He added: "It is clear that, at least among some sectors of the population, there is a deep and festering lack of confidence in the fairness of the justice and law enforcement systems."  

REUTERS

 
To watch Rita Khoury's report, please click on the VIDEO above