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Wednesday, April 17, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Sixty Arrested at Protests|in Ferguson & St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (CN) - Professor Cornel West was among more than 60 protesters arrested in two cities Monday in the culmination of four days of protests dubbed FergusonOctober, that drew activists from across the nation.

Protesters called Monday's events "Moral Monday."

Monday's itinerary included events in Ferguson, St. Louis City Hall and a political fund raiser.

Protesters also made their presence felt at the St. Louis Rams' game against San Francisco on Monday night, both outside the Edward Jones Dome and during the game, when protesters unfurled a banner that said "Black Lives Matter."

West, co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and an author and national media commentator, was among 49 arrested during the Ferguson events. On Sunday night, West told a crowd at another FergusonOctober event: "I didn't come here to give a speech, I came to get arrested!"

None of the 49 arrested were from Ferguson.

At least seven other people were arrested at a fund raiser for Steve Stenger, the Democratic candidate for St. Louis County executive. Stenger has drawn the ire of protesters due to his political ties to St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, whom the protesters want removed from the investigation of the Michael Brown shooting.

At least seven others were arrested at two area Wal-Marts. Protesters said the Wal-Marts were targeted because of the August shooting of a black man by police at a Wal-Mart in Ohio.

Brown's shooting by a white Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9 led to more than two months of daily protests, some of them violent, in the Ferguson streets.

Tensions were further inflamed when an off-duty police officer moonlighting as a security guard fatally shot 18-year-old Vonderrit Meyers Jr. on Oct. 8 in south St. Louis City.

Police said Myers fired several shots at the officer and was killed when the officer returned fire. Police said Myers was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet and was awaiting trial on a weapons charge.

Still, the Myers shooting sparked further protests in south St. Louis city that resulted in damaged police vehicles and the burning of American flags. Many of the protesters moved to the city from Ferguson.

The FergusonOctober event began Friday with a march through Clayton, Mo., past McCulloch's office.

On Saturday, thousands marched through downtown St. Louis.

On Sunday, protesters attended an interfaith service at St. Louis University and staged a sit-in on campus.

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