WELL THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS. THEY WERE MARCHING AROUND FLORISSANT AVENUE, AND POLICE REPEATEDLY THROUGH THE NIGHT WERE WARNING THEM NOT TO BLOCK TRAFFIC, NOT TO BLOCK THE STREET, TO STAY ON THE SIDEWALK. FOR THE MOST PART, PROTESTERS WERE DOING THAT, THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT. THERE WERE SOME SORT OF TENSE STANDOFFS WHERE THEY WOULD GO INTO THE STREET AND THEN POLICE WOULD PUSH THEM BACK. NOW THIS ESCALATED AS IT GOT A LITTLE BIT LATER.
((NAT PAUSE))
A GROUP OF PROTESTERS BLOCKED THE INTERSECTION RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE MCDONALDS. PROBABLY ONE HUNDRED PROTESTERS. POLICE MOVED IN, THEY ASKED THE PROTESTERS TO MOVE BACK. WHEN THE PROTESTERS DID NOT COMPLY, THEY STARTED ARRESTING PEOPLE. EVENTUALLY MOST OF THE CROWD MOVED BACK. MANY OF THOSE PEOPLE WENT INTO THE PARKING LOT OF THE MCDONALDS, WHICH IS WHERE I WAS STANDING WHEN I WAS FILMING THESE PROTESTS. AND A POLICE OFFICER, SEVERAL POLICE OFFICERS, WERE FIRING PEPPER SPRAY, WHAT APPEARED TO ME TO BE PEPPER SPRAY, INTO THE CROWD. I WAS HIT WITH THE PEPPER SPRAY ALONG WITH MY CAMERA. I THINK THROUGHOUT THIS PROTEST MOVEMENT THE VAST MAJORITY OF THESE PROTESTERS HAVE BEEN PEACEFUL, THEY WANT TO BE HEARD...
(((NAT PAUSE)))
THEY WANT REAL REFORM TO BE MADE. THEY WANT THIS DISCUSSION TO LIVE. THEY WANT THIS DISCUSSION TO HAPPEN. THERE'S A GROUP WHO WANTS TO ESCALATE BEYOND THAT AND THERE'S SOME PEOPLE WHO WANT TO ESCALATE BEYOND THAT. AND YOU KNOW, THE WAY THAT YOU GET ATTENTION TO THESE KINDS OF THINGS IS THROUGH CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. AND ONE COMMON FORM OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IS TO BLOCK TRAFFIC. THE T-V CAMERAS ARE THERE, YOUR MESSAGE GETS OUT, IT'S VERY EFFECTIVE. AND THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE DOING TONIGHT, AND IT WORKED. THERE WERE MULTIPLE ARRESTS. THESE PROTESTS GOT ITS MESSAGE OUT THAT THEY WANT POLICE REFORM IN FERGUSON, MISSOURI AND THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
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