• March 29, 2024

Ferguson public meeting erupts in anger and accusations

Residents shout out during the Ferguson city council meeting on September 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. (AFP Photo/Scott Olson)
Residents shout out during the Ferguson city council meeting on September 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. (AFP Photo/Scott Olson)

The Missouri town’s first public meeting since the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown, 18, killed by a white police officer on August 9, turned chaotic with audience members shouting down Ferguson’s council members.

Despite being held inside of a chapel, Mayor James Knowles had trouble from the start maintaining peace and order during Tuesday’s stormy meeting, which was hoped to be a venue for recommending court and police reform.

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Knowles opened the meeting by reciting some of the measures City Council had recommended, including the creation of a Citizen Review Board that would oversee the reform of the Ferguson Police Department, which consists of just three black police officers out of 53.

Ryan J Reilly

“We will do everything we can,” Knowles said, as quoted by the New York Times, “to restore a high quality of life for all Ferguson residents.”

But the 600-member audience, who had to pass through police and metal detectors to enter the church, wasn’t buying it. The crowd quickly descended into a cacophony of chaos, with some demanding the arrest of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown following an encounter between the two men.

 

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