Massive Rallies Planned in St. Louis Against Race-Related Police Killings

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Several civil rights organizations and protest groups, including Ferguson October, are planning massive marches and rallies in St. Louis, Missouri this weekend in response to the latest shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer.

WASHINGTON, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Several civil rights organizations and protest groups, including Ferguson October, are planning massive marches and rallies in St. Louis, Missouri this weekend in response to the latest shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer.

Protesters will seek to highlight what they view as a series of racially motivated gun-related deaths by white officers against people of color in their community and throughout the United States.

At least 6,000 people have registered on an organizing website for the "weekend of resistance" events in and around Ferguson, which begins Friday with a "justice now" march to the office of St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, as reported by The New York Times.

Actions of "civil disobedience" are scheduled all through until Monday.

This weekend's scheduled protests are meant to expose the flaws of a "broken police system," Mervyn Mercano, a spokesman for Ferguson October, which is a mobilization effort organized by Hands Up United, the Organization for Black Struggle and hundreds of other local and national groups, told RIA Novosti.

On Wednesday evening, a 32-year-old white off-duty police officer fatally shot Vonderrit Meyers, an 18-year-old black man. Police have said that Meyers opened fire first before a foot pursuit, which led to the teenager's death.

St. Louis Police Chief Col. Sam Dotson said the 32-year-old unidentified officer, a six-year veteran of the force, was working for a private security company when he approached three men on the street.

"As he exited the car, the gentlemen took off running. He was able to follow one of them before he lost him and then found him again as the guy jumped out of some bushes across the street," Lt. Col. Alfred Adkins said.

"The officer approached, they got into a struggle, they ended up into a gangway, at which time the young man pulled a weapon and shots were fired. The officer returned fire and unfortunately the young man was killed," Adkins added.

"Officer working secondary in the 4100 [block] of Shaw attempted a pedestrian check when suspect fled on foot," read the St. Louis Police Department's Twitter feed on Wednesday evening.

"Officer pursued suspect. Suspect turned & fired at officer. Fearing for his safety, officer returned fire striking the suspect, fatally wounding him. The officer was not injured. A gun was recovered from the scene. The investigation is ongoing," it continued.

Meyer's relatives tell a different story. "He had a sandwich in his hand, and they thought it was a gun," said Teyonna Myers, the victim's cousin. "It's like Michael Brown all over again."

A state senator and other black leaders in St. Louis called on the Justice Department Thursday to investigate the fatal shooting. Protesters then took to the streets, demanding answers. The largely peaceful protests last until early Thursday morning, as reported by St. Louis Dispatch.

This comes just two months after another racially charged fatal incident involving the death of a young black man at the hands of a white police officer in Missouri.

On August 9, Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer.

While the circumstances of the Brown shooting remain disputed, the confrontation began as Brown and another person were walking in the middle of the street minutes after an apparent convenience store robbery.

Brown and the officer began fighting before the teenager was fatally shot. The question of whether Brown had already surrendered to the officer is still debated, and his death has only stoked the racial tensions between people of color and law enforcement.

"The mobilization this weekend is our attempt to [achieve] justice for Michael Brown with a budding national movement against police violence across the country," Mercano told RIA Novosti.

"We are hopeful that people will come here and be energized by the movement in Ferguson and take that work back into their cities across the country. Ferguson is everywhere," the Ferguson October spokesman added.

Organizers for this weekend's protests said they are also planning to create a "memory altar" to victims of police violence and to hold a candlelight march carrying a coffin to the Ferguson Police Department.

"We have not seen one Ferguson official to resign," Mercano added. "What we're going to see this weekend is a massive show of force by peaceful demonstrators who are coming from all over the country… to speak out against the injustices that happened with police brutality, not just with Michael Brown, but also with several people, several different cases worldwide. There is a broken police system that is built on the devaluing of black lives."

"Enough is enough," Mervyn Mercano said.

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