Looking Back at the Ferguson Unrest, One Year Later. Part 3 of 3
These photos were taken on Tuesday, August 12, 2014. Tuesday was the final night I went to Ferguson. By this point, the media outranked the protestors 2-to-1 and the vibe felt uneasy across the board. For three hours, my adrenaline was racing as protests and police demands were lobbed at each group back and forth. Press was allowed to stand here and protestors there, but of course the two groups mixed with each other interchangeably. Police performed militaristic-like extractions of people who were inciting violence by throwing water bottles into the line of cops. Eventually, even people who were loudly upset were getting pepper sprayed for general angst raising and fanning the already high tempers. It was an awful mixture of tension and force.
The night carried on into the late hours as the cops continued surrounding the mass of protestors, media and shit-disturbers into a smaller and smaller group. At one point, a couple hundred people were stuck inside of a small area as the cops continued to shrink the line. Even the cops were confused as to what exactly the point of this might be. Finally, the tension broke and all media and protestors were told they could only stand within a parking lot of a local business.
I left, confused about what had just happened and unsure of my safety (and camera gear) as I walked back to my car that was tucked a few blocks off West Florissant.
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