Uneasy Calm Returns to Ferguson Ahead of Holder Visit - East Idaho News
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Uneasy Calm Returns to Ferguson Ahead of Holder Visit

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getty 082014 fergusonprotests?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1408532808161Michael B. Thomas/AFP/Getty Images(FERGUSON, Mo.) — Unlike Monday night’s chaos that led to the arrests of 78 people and injuries to four police officers, the situation Tuesday night in Ferguson, Missouri, was relatively calm, albeit with tension still in the air.

There appeared to be fewer people on the street protesting the shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American, amid a still-heavy presence of local cops, Missouri Highway Patrol and National Guard. For the most part, the marches were orderly in stark contrast to the clashes that have cast a poor light on both law enforcement and some of the demonstrators.

Late in the night, several arrests were made after water bottles were tossed at police.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will meet Wednesday with investigators from the Justice Department and FBI for an update on their findings on Brown’s death, which came at the hands of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.

At some point, Holder will determine whether civil rights laws were violated.

The prosecutor’s office in St. Louis County, which has jurisdiction in the case, could begin hearing evidence against Wilson as soon as Wednesday to determine if he will be charged in the shooting.


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In other developments, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon issued a message Wednesday that lists three main objectives.

First and foremost, Nixon says that the residents of Ferguson must be protected from “increasingly violent instigators” who use “bricks and guns and Molotov cocktails” against police, a reference to nightly clashes.

Nixon also promised that “a vigorous prosecution must now be pursued” against objections to keeping St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch on the case. Some said that McCulloch has biases in favor of the police.

Lastly, Nixon said that “once we have achieved peace in Ferguson and justice for the family of Michael Brown, we must remain committed to rebuilding the trust that has been lost, mending what has been broken, and healing the wounds we have endured.”


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