Arrests won't stop Michael Brown demonstration, protesters say

Seventeen people were arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly, St. Louis police said Sunday, and more protests are planned over the shooting of Michael Brown, 18, in suburban Ferguson this summer.

Organizers of the four-day Ferguson October summit are protesting the shooting of the black man by a white policeman, which sparked sometimes violent demonstrations in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb of Ferguson in August.

• Man shot by off-duty officer was unarmed, mother says
• TIMELINE I Michael Brown shooting, protests, investigation
• Kajieme Powell shooting video released by St. Louis police

Early Sunday morning, several protesters made their way to the south St. Louis neighbourhood where another black 18-year-old, Vonderrit D. Myers, was killed by a white police officer recently. Protesters occupied a Quicktrip gas station convenience store and staged a sit-in.

St. Louis police Chief Sam Dotson posted on Twitter that protesters were "attempting to storm" the business. He later posted that protesters were "throwing rocks at the police."

St. Louis police spokeswoman Schron Jackson said Sunday in an email that 17 people were arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly. There were no reports of injuries or property damage, the email said.

On Monday, a "direct action" led by local and visiting clergy members is planned for Ferguson and other spots in and around St. Louis. Protest leaders don't plan to release details until shortly ahead of time to avoid tipping off law enforcement.

"We still are knee deep in this situation," Kareem Jackson, a St. Louis rap artist and community organizer whose stage name is Tef Poe, said Saturday. "We have not packed up our bags, we have not gone home. This is not a fly-by-night moment. This is not a made-for-TV revolution. This is real people standing up to a real problem and saying, `We ain't taking it no more."'

We have not packed up our bags, we have not gone home. This is not a fly-by-night moment.- Kareem Jackson

Two months after Brown's death sparked an initial wave of violent riots and led Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to summon the National Guard, the highly organized weekend brought many newcomers to St. Louis.

The new arrivals included Vietnam-era peace activists, New York City seminarians, many college students and hundreds of fast-food workers bused in from Chicago, Nashville and other cities.

A crowd that organizers estimated at 3,000 marched peacefully through downtown St. Louis on Saturday to protest Brown's death and other fatal police shootings of black males in the St. Louis area and nationwide. No arrests were reported on Saturday.

Dotson said the city also will bolster its police presence when the St. Louis Rams host the San Francisco 49ers for Monday night football.

The planned events began Friday afternoon with a march outside the St. Louis County prosecutor's office, where protesters renewed calls for prosecutor Bob McCulloch to charge Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, in the Aug. 9 death of Brown. A grand jury is reviewing the case and the U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation.

Tensions simmer

Organizers said beforehand that they expected as many as 6,000 to 10,000 participants for the weekend's events.

Tensions have simmered since Brown's death. Residents were upset about the way his body lay in the street for more than four hours while police investigated the shooting. Many insist Brown was trying to surrender, with his hands up. Residents also protested the military-style police response to the days of riots and protests that erupted immediately after Brown's shooting in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb where just three blacks serve on a 53-officer force.

Since Brown's death, three other fatal police shootings of black males have occurred in the St. Louis area. The most recent involved an off-duty St. Louis officer who was working for a private neighbourhood security patrol when he shot and killed Myers on Wednesday night.

The white officer, whose name hasn't been released, fired 17 rounds after police say Myers opened fire. Myers's parents say he was unarmed, and many speakers at the Saturday rally echoed those doubts.