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SPECIAL REPORT
21st Century Wire
A St. Louis County attorney and spokesperson for the prosecution, Bob McCulloch (D), just delivered a live address from Clayton, Missouri on the Grand Jury’s decision on the Officer Wilson vs Michael Brown case. A total of 5 indictment charges were presented to the Grand Jury, and the jury found “no probable cause” and returned a “no true” bill on all five original charges.
The family of the deceased 18 year old Michael Brown released a statement expressing their “profound disappointment” over the verdict.
Read more about the details of the verdict here.
The US Department of Justice, led by Eric Holder, has said it has already launched a separate probe looking at possible civil rights violations that may have taken place.
Flash mobs have been gathering in Ferguson all week and so have law enforcement. Based on the verdict, many are expecting the mobs to react badly, as threats have already been made in advance that burning buildings and violence will be taking place.
Immediately after the verdict was announced, White House press officials announced that President Barack Obama ‘is due to speak about verdict in an hour’. Knowing that politically-charged mobs are already assembled on the the street, one only wonders what the President’s speech writers are preparing. Many critics, including 21WIRE, have pointed out the White House’s incendiary roll in agitating protesters, when on November 5th, the day after US midterm elections, President Obama met with Ferguson ‘activist’ protest leaders, telling them to, “stay on course”.
21WIRE’s editor Patrick Henningsen explained earlier this week, “For this mob assembling in Ferguson, it seems as though anything short of a Grand Jury demanding the electric chair for Darren Wilson will result in the burning of the city, along with plenty of violent, random reprisal attacks…”
“Let’s hope that cooler heads prevail, but it will be a tough verdict for mobs to swallow if Wilson is not indicted.”
LIVE UPDATES (BEGIN)
10:00pm EST/9:00pm CST
Obama took to the podium at 10:10pm EST, stating, “We are nation built on the rule of law, so we need to respect that this was a decision that was the Grand Jury’s decision to make… I join Michael Brown’s parents to ask that anyone protesting this decision to do so peacefully”.
Moderate protester leaders on the streets are calling for calm, encouraging that cooler heads must prevail.
10:25pm EST/9:25pm CST:
Early reports are that mobs are now throwing bottles, rocks, and projectiles at police, and also breaking windows of cars passing by.
CNN’s Jake Tapper reports that crowds have attempted to overturn a police car. In response, police have fired tear gas to clear the streets, and moved MRAP vehicles into positions just behind main police lines.
CNN’s Don Lemon reported minutes ago, choking on tear gas, tells of multiple gun shots fired from protesters, as well as “the smell of marijuana in the air”, as he reported live from the streets of Ferguson.
11:00pm EST/10:00pm CST:
CNN’s Tapper reports multiple building have been vandalized, with windows already smashed and looted including a local law firm, a Chinese restaurant, a Mexican Restaurant and other black-owned businesses including one beauty supply store.
Fire has also broken in one commercial building across the main road where some media are positioned, about 100 meters from the police line.
A woman complains that one protester is downed and may have sustained a heart attack, and that crowds had walked over the person because police were pressing crowds back.
Flash mobs have now descended on Ferguson Market and Liquor, the same store where Michael Brown was scene on CCTV to have stolen Cigarellas and bullied store keepers.
CNN reporter Don Lemon describes the scene as “an embarrassment to the family of Michael Brown”.
11:15pm EST/10:15pm CST:
Police let off massive canisters of tear gas, pushing crowds back away from police lines and main intersection.
Two police cruisers are reported to have been set on fire by protest mobs.
Most of the violence has been herded in to a relatively small area. Talk along protest lines is that protest leaders and other agitators are planning to move the protest to a new location in order to avoid police and tear gas.
11:30pm EST/10:30pm CST:
Little Caesars pizza restaurant has been set on fire by angry arson mob.
White House urges for calm, while police forces move to protect businesses from further arson by mobs.
Crowds have amassed in other US cities, including a large crowd in downtown Philadelphia, with protesters on the move. Protesters are carrying signs that have been prepared and made in advance.
Protesters from Union Square moved the Times Square, and have now gathered on 7th Avenue in New York City, numbering in the thousands, marching along the southbound lanes at the 47th street junction.
NYC march is still going strong for #Ferguson two groups now this one is headed towards Harlem pic.twitter.com/E2mfHF2bSr
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) November 25, 2014
NYC protesters throw a bag on fake blood over NYC Police Commissioner William Bratton.
USA TODAY are reporting that crowds are now gathering near the White House in Washington DC.
. RT @MajorNews911: #BREAKING: Building fully enflamed in Ferguson, MO. pic.twitter.com/6ehaTGhDok
— DanRiehl (@DanRiehl) November 25, 2014
11:45pm EST/10:45pm CST:
Cold weather setting in at 35F, driving some crowds away from epicenter of Ferguson protests.
FOX NEWS reporter moves back off the front line in Ferguson after 50-60 gun shots are fired from small calibre hand guns from unknown protesters 800 yards from media reporters position.
Police now returning fire at unknown armed protesters.
Police helicopters scrambled to area to find source of protester gun shots.
Fires to business are “spreading and growing” around beauty store fire in Ferguson, as fire fighters move in to put out fires. Police move to maintain a perimeter around fire fighters for protection against mobs.
In Oakland, CA, and in Los Angeles, CA, hundreds of protesters are on the move, marching near the city centers, but no violence or vandalism has been reported as yet.
In the nearby downtown of St. Louis, Missouri, at I-44 and Grand Ave, approximately a thousand of peaceful protesters stretching 6-8 city blocks, with cross traffic stopped.
In Los Angeles at 8:50pm local time, hundred of “artivist” protesters can be seen lying at a major street intersection, symbolizing ‘Michael Brown lying in the street after being shot’.
12:00am EST/11:00pm CST:
Ferguson: A car, possibly a police cruiser, can be seen being torched in the street with mobs looking on:
Heavily armored #Ferguson riot police clearing streets – WATCH LIVE http://t.co/5VoCSD9dVv – via @Ruptly pic.twitter.com/MED15fotG2
— RT America (@RT_America) November 25, 2014
More gun fire is reported, going off in multiple directions…
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READ MORE FERGUSON NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Ferguson Files
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