FERGUSON, Missouri: The parents of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager shot dead in 2012, were expected to join the family of Michael Brown, killed by a police officer in Missouri this month, in a rally in St Louis today to protest against police violence.
The demonstration will take place one day before the funeral of Brown, an 18-year-old black youth whose slaying by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, in the town of Ferguson on Aug. 9 led to days of unrest and drew global attention to race relations in the United States.
The shooting of Martin by a civilian vigilante was one of the most high-profile incidents of racial tension in the United States in recent years, with family and supporters saying it showed the rough treatment that black youths live with.
Representatives of the Brown family said in public flyers that Martin’s parents would attend the demonstration. In Ferguson, police and demonstrators have clashed nightly for more than a week, drawing criticism of the police for mass arrests and the use of heavy-handed tactics and military gear.
The last four nights have been relatively calm, however, although shortly before midnight on Saturday, police arrested three people. The main street of Ferguson was open to traffic and the police presence was down sharply from just 24 hours earlier.
At an impromptu memorial where Brown was shot, a few people posed for photos on Sunday and fresh flowers had been laid along the street.
Steve Coyne, 52, said he drove six hours from Elkhart, Indiana, on Saturday night to pay his respects.
“I just had to come. I don’t know why exactly, but I felt it so I came. I think the looting and rioting is bad, but to do nothing is worse,” Coyne said after posing for a photo by the memorial.
Supporters of Wilson planned a second day of fundraising for him, with a gathering at a St. Louis sports bar where an entirely white crowd attended an event for him on Saturday.
Speaking on “Face the Nation” on CBS, Democratic Representative Lacy Clay of Missouri, who is due to speak at the funeral, said he had promised Brown’s parents he would push for a transparent investigation into his death.
“I’m more concerned that if we do not get to the truth and get to what actually happened and bring justice to this situation, then there’s going to be a problem in the streets,” he said.
A grand jury began hearing evidence on Wednesday, a process the county prosecutor said could take until mid-October.
REUTERS
