Missouri national guard on standby for Ferguson grand jury decision

Governor Jay Nixon announces policing plans for protests that could happen when grand jury decides whether to indict police officer who shot dead Michael Brown in August
Ferguson protest prep




The Missouri national guard will be on standby to deal with any protests after a grand jury announces its decision on whether to charge the police officer who shot dead an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, the state governor announced on Tuesday.

The governor, Jay Nixon, said that the authorities were prepared to deal with any eventuality after the grand jury’s decision in the case of Darren Wilson, who shot dead Brown, 18, in hotly disputed circumstances in August.

Authorities in Ferguson are braced for protests over the jury’s decision. Successive nights of intense clashes between police and protesters followed Brown’s death.

Officials and police around St Louis have been making extensive preparations for renewed protests. James Knowles, Ferguson’s mayor, said this month that they would “prepare for the worst”. He told a local television station: “There are expectations that demonstrations probably will break out in several places.”

Nixon said that in the aftermath of the protests earlier this year, peaceful protests were “marred by senseless acts of violence and destruction”. He said: “That ugliness was not representative of Missouri, and that cannnot be repeated.”



http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/11/missouri-national-guard-ferguson-grand-jury-protests