Protesters, including religious leaders, were arrested on Monday as they stepped forward into a line of officers in riot gear outside this city’s police department, a day when organizers here have promised numerous organized demonstrations of civil disobedience around the St. Louis region over questions about police conduct.
About a dozen people were taken into custody by midday, and more protesters, arms linked, were waiting in the rain. Though the mood was tense, the arrests were relatively calm as clergy members and others said they wished to meet with Ferguson police officers inside the building, then stepped forward after saying they were prepared to be arrested if they could not. Among the first taken into custody was Cornel West, the author and professor, who told the line of officers, “We’re here because we love the young folks.” As they arrived at Ferguson’s police department, which has been the scene of testy nightly protests since the death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in August, the religious leaders of numerous faiths stepped forward to a line of waiting police, offering to “take their confessions” and pray with them.
An outline of a body was drawn on the ground — a reminder, organizers said, of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old who died here on Aug. 9, but also of the scores of other people killed by police officers. “Black lives matter!” the crowd chanted. “All lives matter!”
Protest leaders have provided few details of their larger plans, except to say that they would be employing a strategy used by demonstrators in North Carolina. Last year, people there began staging weekly protests known as “Moral Mondays” in response to actions by the state government, which was newly controlled by Republicans. The protests in Raleigh, the state capital, led to hundreds of arrests and served as a template for similar, smaller demonstrations across the South.
By Monday morning, at least three separate actions were being carried out, including the demonstrations at the Ferguson police department. In St. Louis, not far from the neighborhood where another black teenager was killed last week by a white off-duty police officer, hundreds of protesters marched for blocks through fog, then announced they would stage a sit-in on the campus of Saint Louis University.
Matthew 15:14
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Isaiah 30:2
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Isaiah 31:1
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!
Isaiah 3:12
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
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