聖路易斯抗議持續第三天，警察逮捕80多人

Police in St. Louis, Missouri, said they made more than 80 arrests Sunday after some people smashed store windows following what had been a peaceful protest against the acquittal of a former officer in the shooting death of a black man.

Police Chief Larry O'Toole told reporters early Monday that some people assaulted officers and threw rocks at them.

"We're in control, this is our city, and we're going to protect it," O'Toole said.

Mayor Lyda Krewson spoke of the difference between those who caused damage at night and the daytime protesters who rallied again peacefully in response to Friday's verdict in the case of former officer Jason Stockley.

"Today we saw again that the vast majority of protesters are nonviolent, but for the third day in a row the days have been calm and the nights have been destructive," Krewson said. "After the demonstrations, organizers announced that the daytime protest was over, but a group of agitators stayed behind, apparently intent on breaking windows and destroying property."

Stockley had been charged with the killing of Anthony Lamar Smith after a car chase in 2011. Prosecutors alleged Stockley also planted a gun on Smith's body, and that video from his car captured the officer saying during the chase that he was going to kill Smith.

The judge in the case said the prosecution had failed to prove the shooting was not a justified use of force in self-defense.

There was some violence late Saturday with protestors breaking windows and throwing objects at police. Nine people were arrested then.

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens warned that his administration will deal harshly with those responsible for the violence.

"These aren't protestors, these are criminals," Greitens said Sunday. "Criminals, listen up: you break a window, you're going to be behind bars. It's that simple."

Saturday's protests included several hundred people walking through two malls in suburban St. Louis shouting "black lives matter" and "it is our duty to fight for our freedom" as they marched.

Protests started peacefully on Friday, with hundreds gathering in the streets of St. Louis holding signs and chanting "No justice, no peace." Some made their way to police headquarters, calling for police resignations.

By the end of the night, demonstrators had broken a window and splashed paint on the mayor's home, prompting police in riot gear to move the protesters away from the residence.

"We are saddened [about the acquittal], we are frustrated," St. Louis Alderman John Collins-Muhammad told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. "Until black people in this city get justice, until we get a seat at the table, there will be no peace in this city."

Damone Smith, a 52-year-old electrician, told the newspaper, "I think the verdict is disgusting."

"Time and time again, African-American men are killed by police and nobody is held accountable," he said.

Racial tension in the area is not new. One of the suburbs of St. Louis is Ferguson, Missouri, where two weeks of protests began in August 2014 with the shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, by a white police officer.

That November, the decision not to indict the police officer sparked another week of protests, and the anniversary of the shooting in 2015 was the occasion of a third protest.

Brown's father told a St. Louis television station after Friday's verdict, "You all know this ain't right and you all continue to do this to us. Like we don't mean nothing, like we're rats, trash, dogs in the streets ... my people are tired of this."

The incidents in Missouri were followed by police shootings and protests in a number of American cities, among them Baltimore, Maryland; Charlotte, North Carolina; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.密蘇里州聖路易斯警方表示，他們星期天逮捕了80多人，這些人砸碎商店的玻璃。在此之前，示威者舉行和平集會，抗議一名開槍打死黑人的白人警察被判無罪。

聖路易斯警察局長星期一凌晨對記者表示，一些人襲擊警察，向警察扔石頭。

他說：“我們控制了局勢，這是我們的城市，我們必須保護。”

聖路易斯市長克魯森把和平集會抗議上週五前警察傑森·斯托克利被判無罪和夜間砸碎商店門窗玻璃的人作對比。

她說：“我們今天看到大多數示威者都是非暴力的，但連續第三天出現白天平和夜間破壞的局面。”

斯托克利被控在2011年11月的一次汽車追擊中開槍打死了安東尼·拉瑪爾·史密斯。檢控官指稱斯托克利事後把一支手槍放在史密斯的屍體上，斯托克利車上拍攝的視頻可以聽到斯托克利揚言要殺掉史密斯。

本案的法官表示，檢方未能證明斯托克利開槍不屬於正當防衛。

星期六晚也發生了暴力，一些示威者打碎窗戶 玻璃，向警察投擲雜物。有九人被逮捕。

密蘇里州州長格雷騰斯警告說，州政府將嚴懲製造暴力者。

格雷斯騰星期天說：“那些不是示威者，那些人是罪犯。”

星期六的示威有數百人蔘加，他們在聖路易斯郊區兩個購物中心遊行，喊着“黑人命也是命”和“爭取自由是我們的義務”的口號。

抗議活動以和平方式開始，幾百名示威者走上聖路易斯市的街頭，舉着“沒有公正，沒有和平”的標語。一些人走到警察局，要求警察辭職。

到了夜間，示威者打碎了一扇玻璃，在市長家的房子上噴灑油漆。穿着防暴服的警察把抗議者從市長家附近驅離。

聖路易斯的居民阿爾德曼·約翰·柯林斯-穆罕默德（John Collins-Muhammad）告訴聖路易斯郵報：“我們對無罪釋放感到悲痛，我們很失望。 “在這個城市的黑人得到公正之前，在桌子旁有我們的一席之地以前，這個城市不會有和平。”

一名52歲的電工史密斯告訴聖路易斯郵報：“我認爲這個判決是令人厭惡的。”

他說：“一次又一次，非裔美國人被警察殺死，沒有人被追究責任。”

該地區的種族緊張局勢並不新鮮。聖路易斯的一個郊區是密蘇里州弗格森，2014年8月，那裏爆發了兩星期的抗議活動，起因是一名白人警察把18歲的黑人邁克爾·布朗（Michael Brown）槍殺。

後來，11月份，不起訴那名警察的決定引發了一週的抗議活動，2015年，在這個事件的週年紀念日，爆發了第三次示威。

布朗的父親在星期五的裁決後告訴聖路易斯電視臺：“你們都知道這是不對的，你們都繼續對我們這樣做，就好像我們什麼都不是一樣，就好像我們是街頭的老鼠、垃圾、狗......我們都厭倦了。”

在密蘇里州發生的事件之後，還有一些美國城市發生警察槍擊和抗議活動，其中包括馬里蘭州巴爾的摩市、北卡羅來納州夏洛特、明尼蘇達州聖保羅和路易斯安那州巴吞魯日。