With the world’s eyes upon them, you’d think Ferguson Police would behave themselves during Sunday night’s protest. If so, you would be very, very wrong.
Sorry, readers: that brief hopeful interlude when State Police Captain Ron Johnson announced he’d be taking charge in Ferguson, Mo. has officially ended. The endless cycle of chaos and violence remains unbroken.
Perhaps Ferguson police had to get their last licks in before State Police finally take over.
Instead of backing off and mending fences in their community, Ferguson police have doubled down. Complex reports another night of anger and insanity, as police fire canisters of tear gas right and left into crowds of protesters to enforce the newly-imposed curfew.
Chaos continued into Sunday in Ferguson, Mo. as police reportedly opened fire on protestors without warning just after 9 p.m. local time, shooting tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds, which included children and members of the media. The apparent unprovoked act of police aggression came shortly after a woman suffered minor gunshot injuries near the now-burned-down QuikTrip.
That’s right, Ferguson police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd “just after” 9:00 p.m. Central Time… well before the midnight curfew.
Watch the story unfold below (note: Tweets with images are time-stamped Pacific Coast Time).
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Global Revolution announced that the protest march had good turnout, and that they’d set up a live web cam to record the demonstration. This is a precaution protesters take nowadays in hope of deterring police brutality and misbehavior. Unfortunately, Ferguson police don’t give a damn what the world thinks of them.
#FERGUSON Huge Demo through the streets chanting #NoJustice#NoPeace #HandsUpDontShoot LIVE http://t.co/AWFHAasUi5 pic.twitter.com/CxwgR1tq8L
— Global Revolution (@GlobalRevLive) August 18, 2014
[divider] Zellie has a point about how protesters should think about keeping their kids safe, but if these parents left their kids at home alone, they’d probably get arrested for negligence and child endangerment. Besides, these parents shouldn’t have to worry about police hurting them or their kids.
Too many kids out here. If you want to put yourself in danger that’s your choice. Don’t put kids in that danger. #Ferguson — zellie (@zellieimani) August 18, 2014
[divider] About an hour before the teargassing, Bill Moyers.Com heard from a Iraq war veteran, and tweeted this:
Iraq Vet: Police in #Ferguson have better armor & weaponry than my men & I did in the middle of a war http://t.co/QlFbNW11UG — BillMoyers.com (@BillMoyersHQ) August 18, 2014
[divider] This Twitter user makes a valid point… Why can’t anyone STOP Ferguson police from DOING this sh*t?
Elected officials act like no one has control over these police departments in #Ferguson. That’s not how it works. — Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) August 18, 2014
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And what will happen when those final autopsy results are announced, if Ferguson police can’t get a handle on things now and work with the community? The preliminary autopsy results are bad enough.
How is #Ferguson planning to handle the chaos when the DOJ releases it’s conclusion? The national guard? — MrsLibertas (@Bloviate_Barbie) August 18, 2014
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What the hey? They’re just giving Ferguson police back their grenade… Back in the old days, one might say that’s “mighty white” of them.
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By 8:44 CT, things had already spun out of control.
this isn’t even an exaggeration. these cops are out of control. just completely out of control. #ferguson — PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) August 18, 2014
[divider] HuffPo’s Amanda Terkel warns followers about the phalanx of police teargassing protesters: 
[divider] Of course, children got hit with tear gas… as well as journalists and other bystanders. 
[divider] Ryan J. Reilly from Huffington Post photographed the canisters of tear gas lying on the ground. 
[divider] Meanwhile, a local woman tell’s Huffington Post‘s Amanda Terkel the state of Missouri treats black people “like dogs.”
“Missouri is the most racist state. They treat us like dogs.” — Woman who was on her way back to car w/ kid when tear gas shot #Ferguson — Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) August 18, 2014
[divider] And of course, now that the crowd is angry enough to pelt Ferguson police with rocks, the folks from Fox News will insist that they’re a “lynch mob.”
The crowd at #ferguson is now throwing rocks at the police but it will somehow end up being the cops fault when they get their asses kicked. — Ranger Up / Nick (@Ranger_Up) August 18, 2014
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Tim Stewart’s right… If this is how Ferguson police behave when the world’s watching, how were they behaving before?
Just think: this is how the St. Louis County cops conduct themselves when they know that the world is watching. #Ferguson
— Tim Stewart (@timstwrt) August 18, 2014
[divider] Hayes Brown from Think Progress wants to know what the difference is between Ferguson and Palestine, and we can’t answer him. 
[divider] Yikes. 
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So, we’re back to arresting journalists again? There goes the First Amendment. #Ferguson — Highly scatological (@RaisingOneBrow) August 18, 2014
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Oh, so NOW they realize all those cameras and journalists might be a problem. Too late.
#Ferguson PD telling journalist to turn off cameras and gear and to leave it there and leave. Made them wait to retreive their car
— #OccupyCleveland (@OccupyCleveland) August 18, 2014
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God #ferguson looks like a civil war. — jelani cobb (@jelani9) August 18, 2014
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Congratulations, America… we are officially a third-world country.
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Imagine what would happen if the cameras weren’t there?
We can’t leave #ferguson alone after this because what will they do when the cameras aren’t there?
— Sydette (@Blackamazon) August 18, 2014
