Civil disobedience

Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and
commands of a government, or of an occupying international power.
Famous Quotes
MLK: One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
Howard Zinn: Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely
essential to it.
Gandhi: An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the
law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by
nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and
imprisonment.
I feel that what Howard Zinn said is something that remains true to this day. This is not
so much a thing in the United States but around the world in countries with corrupt or
undemocratic governments. There are many examples around the world in recent times and right
now. There have been large protests and acts of civil disobedience in Ukraine, Egypt, Syria and
many others especially in the arab world. These act have led to major reform or topple corrupt
governments and replacing them with something more legitimate. This has help to protect and
bring democracy to countries around the world.

Article
FERGUSON, Missouri (CNN) A day of civil disobedience that saw several arrests ended
Monday with rowdy protesters throwing rocks and bottles at police.
The St. Louis County police said frozen water bottles were thrown at officers, prompting them to
order the crowd to disperse or face arrest.

"Safety, our top priority, is now compromised. This is no longer a peaceful protest. Participants
are now unlawfully assembled," the department tweeted
Earlier, a top St. Louis County official declared a state of emergency, saying violence had marred
demonstrations marking the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death.
"The recent acts of violence will not be tolerated in a community that has worked so tirelessly
over the last year to rebuild and become stronger," St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger
said in a statement.
The executive order put St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar in charge of police operations
in Ferguson and the surrounding areas, Stenger said.
During the day Monday, roughly 200 demonstrators marched from Christ Church Cathedral to
the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse in St. Louis. The protesters carried signs,
chanted and prayed and demanded the Justice Department take action.
At the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, protesters hung a banner from two balloons. It
read, "Racism still lives here #fightback."
Police arrested 56 people at the courthouse demonstration, St. Louis Metropolitan Police
Department spokeswoman Schron Jackson told CNN.
Video posted to social media showed officers arresting several prominent protesters, including
activist and intellectual Cornel West, who was also arrested during an October protest at the
Ferguson Police Department.
One of those protesters, Johnetta Elzie, who has been a mainstay of the demonstrations and goes
by Netta, tweeted minutes before her arrest, "If I'm arrested today please know I'm not suicidal. I
have plenty to live for. I did not resist, I'm just black."

Later Monday, another group of protesters blocked part of Interstate 70 in Earth City, Missouri.
Some of them held yellow signs that said, "Ferguson is everywhere."
Protesters held hands and formed a line across the highway. About 20 minutes later, troopers
cleared the roadway, walking with protesters toward the shoulder and apparently arresting some
of them in a nearby parking lot.
Shooting suspect charged
Monday's acts of civil disobedience came after a night of violence that left Ferguson on edge.
Peaceful marches in the St. Louis suburb planned by day on Sunday were shattered that same
night when gunfire broke out, sending protesters and police scattering to safety.
The alleged gunman, 18-year-old Tyrone Harris of St. Louis, is hospitalized in critical condition
and in police custody. The St. Louis County Police Department said officers shot the teenager
after he unleashed a "remarkable amount of gunfire" at police -- a characterization the man's aunt
contends is not true.
Prosecutors have charged Harris with four counts of first-degree assault on law enforcement, five
counts of armed criminal action and one count of discharging a firearm at a motor vehicle, St.
Louis County Police Department spokesman Sgt. Brian Schellman said.
Belmar said earlier that Harris used a stolen handgun to fire at officers.
Harris is being held on a $250,000 bond, Schellman said.
Harris' aunt, Karen Harris, said her nephew attended the protests because he was friends with
Brown. Recounting what other family members who were with Tyrone Harris described, the aunt
said Tyrone Harris wasn't carrying a gun and never fired at police.
He was "running for his life" just like everyone else, she said, when the gunshots were fired.

Peaceful vigil, then chaos

The anniversary observations of Brown's shooting death by a white Ferguson police officer
started off peacefully Sunday.
Vigils honored him throughout the day. Attendees observed four and a half minutes of silence to
signify the four and a half hours Brown's body lay on the street after the unarmed black teen was
shot last year.
But the new gunfire shifted the focus Sunday night.
When officers first saw the suspect, he was running away after exchanging gunfire with an
unknown person, police said.
Some gunfire rang out as reporters were talking to Ferguson's acting police chief, Andre
Anderson. A startled Anderson continued speaking with a steady burst of gunfire in the
background. Crowds scattered.
Detectives in an unmarked SUV turned on its emergency lights and pursued the suspect, only to
be shot at, according to Belmar. The bullets hit the vehicle's hood and windshield several times,
Belmar said.
As the detectives got out of the car, the suspect allegedly turned around and fired again.
Then he ran toward a fenced area, where he continued firing -- until officers struck him multiple
times, Belmar said.
The four plainclothes officers involved in the shooting have between six to 12 years of
experience, he said. They have been placed on administrative leave.

"We cannot continue, we cannot talk about the good things that we have been talking about, if
we are prevented from moving forward with this kind of violence," Belmar said, adding that
those resorting to violence are not protesters.
"Protesters are people who are out there to effect change," he said. There were "several people
shooting, several rounds shot."
Night turns tense
By Sunday night, police presence had turned heavy, and rumors about the shooting flew.
Police and protesters faced off in a tense standoff on West Florissant Avenue, not far from
Canfield Drive, where Brown was shot.
Several objects were thrown at police and some businesses damaged, the St. Louis County Police
Department said. A journalist was attacked and robbed in a parking lot. Three St. Louis County
police officers were injured: One was struck in the face by a brick, while two others were
pepper-sprayed.
Police, with helmets and shields, pushed crowds back and called in tactical units.
"We're ready for what? We're ready for war," some in the crowd chanted.
Another shooting
In a separate incident early Monday, a man wearing a red hooded sweatshirt shot two teens, 17
and 19, in the chest, the St. Louis County Police Department said.
Both were hospitalized with injuries not considered life-threatening, authorities said.
The teens were walking on a sidewalk near where Brown was killed a year ago.

'Pray for peace'

Amid the chaos, some appealed for calm.
"Please pray for peace in Ferguson tonight and forever," Danny Takhar tweeted. "And the police
department really needs to look at what they did last year and today."
Others posted a video of what they described as a shooting victim in Ferguson lying on the
streets bleeding.
"Please get him some help! He's bleeding out," a voice said off camera.
Ferguson city officials condemned the violence in a statement Monday.
"This kind of behavior from those who want to cause disruption and destroy the progress from
this past year will not be tolerated," the city's mayor and City Council said. "We are asking for
our citizens and businesses to be diligent and to be watchful for those who want to cause harm to
our community."
The genesis
The details of what happened on August 9, 2014, and the days of protest that followed have
become a polarizing topic in Ferguson and America as a whole.
Brown's killing by Officer Darren Wilson sparked outrage and protests nationwide against what
some described as racial bias by the police.
A grand jury didn't indict Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department also declined to bring
criminal charges, but the feds did issue a report that found the Ferguson Police Department and
the city's municipal court had engaged in a "pattern and practice" of discrimination against
African-Americans, targeting them disproportionately for traffic stops, use of force and jail
sentences.

Brown's killing sparked weeks of protests that at times intensified into street fires and looting of
businesses. Police fired tear gas in response, sparking more tensions.
Wilson retired from the Ferguson Police Department.
But protesters -- many of whom are skeptical of the local and federal inquiries into the case -point to examples of police misconduct exposed in the wake of Brown's death. The case also led
to new policing strategies, including the introduction of police body cameras.
http://www.wcvb.com/national/gunfire-erupts-in-ferguson/34627824
Article Summary
Many have been arrested for acts of civil disobedience in regard to Ferguson. Many held signs
and protested. Many of these protesters are upset with the police and think they are
discriminating against them. This is because of a white police man shooting a black person. The
protesters marched and blocked highways. The protesters became very disruptive and even
violent as they started to throw things at the police. the police asked them to disperse in order to
preserve safety. Many of the protesters were arrested. The actions of the protesters has yet to
change anything regarding the issue at hand.
The protest over the the next few days became increasingly more violent with new shootings
taking place. This also led to increased tensions. They did find the gunman and had him charged.
Eventually police and protesters would clash leading to more violence.
My opinion
The protest were not useful in anyway. While I agree with the jury decision not to convict
Wilson, the manner in which these protesters protested was not good or helpful. At the end of the
day nothing has changed except there are now a few more people in jail and these protesters just

seem extreme. If the protest want to be taken seriously they need to be peaceful patient and
persistent. The protest was at the end of the day just another news headline and nothing more.
Bobby Howard III, 9/8/2015, Ferguson civil disobedience again turns violent, 8/10/2015,
www.wcvb.com