Dozens Arrested on 3rd Night of St. Louis Protests

Police made dozens of arrests in St. Louis on Sunday night when people ignored orders to disperse after a third night of vandalism that followed largely nonviolent daylight protests. Police had warned those still on downtown streets late Sunday that they would be arrested if they didn't leave the area, the AP reports. The protest began at police headquarters downtown. Following the same pattern of the previous days, well over 1,000 people marched peacefully for several hours in the afternoon and early evening. By nightfall, most had gone home. The 100 or so demonstrators who remained grew increasingly agitated and broke windows at shops and hotels as they marched toward the downtown core.

Police say there was significant property damage. Earlier, several hundred protesters observed six minutes of silence in front of the St. Louis Police Department, then chanted, "Stop killing us" as officers looked on from headquarters windows. Protesters said the six-minute silence symbolizes the six years between the death of Anthony Lamar Smith and the acquittal of Jason Stockley, the white former police officer who was charged in the black suspect's shooting death. The verdict was issued Friday, leading to protests in which 10 police officers were injured and a window at the mayor's house was broken. (Stockley says he did nothing wrong.)