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St. Louis Shooting Protests: American Flags Burned

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 02:35 PST, Oct 10, 2014

St. Louis protesters burned American flags on Thursday evening as significant unrest continued in the Missouri town. Crowds took to the streets in protest earlier this week after Vonderrit D. Myers, 18, was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer. Law enforcement officers report that Myers opened fire on their peer, which prompted the shooting of the teenager.

The protesters in St. Louis chanted, “no justice, no peace” just as the demonstrators in nearby Ferguson did after the Mike Brown shooting by police officer Darren Wilson. The crowds in St. Louis had carried American flags as they chanted before Old Glory was set ablaze.

Vonderrit Myers was shot on Wednesday by a white, off-duty St. Louis police officer. Myers’ parents claim he was unarmed. Some local lawmakers and social activists maintain Myers was “targeted” because he was black and wanted the Justice Department to investigate. Eric Holder’s Justice Department did launch a civil rights investigation into the Michael Brown shooting.

“This here was racial profiling turned deadly,” Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat, stated during a press conference on Thursday about the Vonderrit Myers shooting. In addition to burning American flags, St. Louis shooting protesters banged on drums and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.” Broken glass littered the sidewalks and streets after some store windows were smashed, and the sides of police vans were slammed.

Two arrests were made during the Thursday evening Vonderrit Myers shooting protests. St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson, who was on the scene during the protests, said a large knife “came flying” out of the crowd and struck an officer on the shoulder. “Fortunately, not the blade edge,” Chief Dotson said. Jerryl Christmas, a local attorney who attended a press conference with 20 black leaders from the St. Louis area, said, “This is a racial powder keg. All this is going to do is escalate the situation.”

St. Louis shooting protesters told CBS News that “thousands of activists” from around the United States are expected to converge upon the city for four days of civil disobedience, rallies, and marches. The focus of the protests will reportedly be racial profiling, police violence, the St. Louis shooting, and the Ferguson shooting.

[Image via: Twitter]

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