Ferguson police assault journalists, open fire on protesters

Posted on: Thu, 08/14/2014 - 11:01 By: Tom Swiss

For those of you keeping score at home: nutjob armed supporters of actual criminal Cliven Bundy got cops to leave. Peaceful unarmed supporters of cop-murder victim Michael Brown are arrested, assaulted, and fired upon. Maybe it's time to bring back the approach of the Black Panthers and the Deacons for Defense.

Ferguson Disgrace: Police Fire on Unarmed Crowds, Attack News Trucks (Jezebel)

On Saturday, police in Ferguson, Missouri shot and killed an 18-year-old unarmed man named Michael Brown. Since then, protests have taken place throughout the town, which has a population of around 21,000. For those wondering what was going in Ferguson on Wednesday it might have been hard getting information. Many of the major networks were not airing live coverage of anything. Add to that journalists who were actually trying to report on the scene were being rounded up, blocked from the town or just outright arrested.

Via the I Am Mike Brown livestream KARG Argus Radio, viewers watched as police fired rubber bullets into crowds of unarmed citizens. We watched as police advanced on a group of peaceful demonstrators. I Am Mike Brown livestream reported police were demanding that they turn off their cameras. "Because they don't want witnesses," the reporter said. This definitely echoes the experience of Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly, who was arrested earlier in the day after a SWAT team invaded the McDonald's he was working out of. When he took a photo, an officer demanded to see his ID. Last I checked, taking a photo was not something that required an ID in this coutry