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tv   Ferguson City Under Siege  Al Jazeera  June 26, 2020 2:32am-3:01am +03

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months of negotiations the u.a.e. doesn't have formal diplomatic relations with israel israel's announcement comes just days before netanyahu plans an expanse of the occupied west bank though the. this cooperation will be in research and technology development 2 areas that will improve the health security of the entire region these are the result of continuous and intensive communications that took place over the past months this will bring a blessing to many in our region but the higher our strength and strength the more it will be able to deter our enemies and bring our friends closer to us. the u.s. house of representatives is debating a sweeping police reform bill brought by the democrats the legislation would reduce legal protections for offices and make it easier to prosecute police it will also bend chokeholds and change the criteria for using lethal force that follows nationwide protests the news continues here on al-jazeera after we want i'll be back at the top of the hour. on july 1st russians head to the polls to vote on
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constitutional reforms including changes that could enable putin to remain in office 22036 but with a drop in approval ratings for his handling of the and democrats are they willing to pave the way for an even longer presidency follow developments on the jersey. hello and welcome again to rewind i'm elizabeth purana since we launched al-jazeera english more than a decade ago we've tackled many difficult and sensitive stories across the world today we rewind into august 2014 when the fault line series traveled to ferguson
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missouri and the midst of street on rest following the police shooting of a young african-american michael brown was just 18 and a mom when he was shot by a white police officer after being stopped while walking with a friend and the hours after the shooting the residents of this mostly black area of service and took to the streets to protest against the killing and to demand that the police officer should be named the police responded by flooding the area with armed officers and riot gear and military style equipment by the time night fell the streets of ferguson looked like a war zone it was the beginning of more than a week of street protests which divided public opinion in the united states and within days sebastian walker and his fault lines crew and ferguson to see for themselves the nature of both the uprising and the police response from force lines and august 2014 has fergus.
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ferguson in missouri. the spark for what would become daily street protests was the killing of an unarmed african-american teenager. in the days that followed the police responded to the demonstrations with massive force. such as it was sickening forces the message to little kill if necessary. an autopsy would show the brown was shot at least 6 times twice in the head. he was the 4th unarmed black man to be killed in the united states by police in the span of a month the street protests and police tactics brought ferguson into the national and international spotlight things quickly spiral reports of gunshots fired from the crowd a state of emergency was declared the national guard was deployed and the u.s. attorney general launched a federal investigation into the killing fault lines i was in ferguson to witness
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how michael brown's killing sparked something bigger exposing tensions that had been bubbling beneath the surface for years always the last. week. this is the area ferguson's residents are calling ground 0 the epicenter of the protests. when we arrived it was the 4th day in a row that people were marching on the street just a few blocks from where michael brown was shot. and. the police had still not released the name of the officer involved and people were angry.
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mistrusted. the police here runs deep while moving 60 percent of ferguson's residents are black 50 out of its 53 police officers a white. african-americans account for nearly 90 percent of police stops such as under arrest. the demonstrators made it clear they would remain peaceful and requested the police to do the same. route if. i got right there i go back but for no reason that we could see the mood shifted very quickly. so the police are now bringing out these heavy armored vehicles you can see it's a lengthy truck this is something that's designed for basically conflict zones to fight in places like iraq and afghanistan this is an extraordinary display of force
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to be honest i mean these guys on to the team there's more riot police arriving behind them this is a crowd of just a few 100 people in is being completely peaceful our guys on top of these vehicles are actually training a high powered weapon examination the crowd. the police refused to explain why they needed such heavy weaponry. so genuine that bringing this equipment in fact some of you know want to bring in ahmed pickles. it wasn't hard to see why the crown would see the police presence as anything other than inflammatory. would you like. machine gun. you don't think that. is peace. how does it being like this the last few days is me like this for years.
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for years this kind of policing yes this is been like this for years. but the anger over the way peace was handling the situation group. only. the police are saying we're going to leave the area we're going to get right back now from the police line the gas is coming down now. there's more gas coming over here. we're going to get out of here now. back she firing canisters of gas at us as we're running away. calls a picture here i mean. it's about as feeling nothing like her moses was driving down the same as it was being
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a son in law just every time our light you'll see i didn't know how innocent why do you think they started firing gas why they started firing guns because they're trying to get us decide to riot all the time they're trying to think old you know 1st the rights. when the. police are now using in the audio instruments to try to disperse the crowd this is a crowd control you can see the protesters are still in the streets and they're saying the lead not going anywhere. they seems like they're throwing flash bombs now there's the explosions going off we're not quite sure what the police so far in but keep coming down to we're going to get out of here.
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in a matter of hours on the streets of ferguson had gone from peaceful protest and calls for justice to scenes out of the conflict zone. there's a lot of places bardsley force a crowd had their status everywhere to the explosion for black crash bang grenades another one got up out. as the military vehicles advanced rubber bullets were fired. the 1st said anyone on the streets including media was in the line of fire. off the days of launch really staying silent missouri's government finally showed up in ferguson promising changes. today i'm announcing that the missouri
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highway patrol under the supervision of captain ron johnson who grew up in this area will be directing the team that provides security in ferguson yet governor how can you explain the nature of the presence that we saw on the streets yesterday i mean that was on personnel carriers about 100 police and military style uniform high powered rifles being trained on the crowd i mean who is in charge of making those decisions and on they're going to be held to account for mistakes that you clearly think have been made i think that those yesterday and i just i do more small kevin johnson i appreciate this in a very busy responsibility looking forward to a new face for the police commander captain von jones who was born in the community . the scene on thursday was very different from the previous nights of take gas and military vehicles this seems to be fewer police and those who were there the streets with the protesters. the change in approach seems to lift the
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mood. but that atmosphere was short lived. the next morning ferguson's police chief finally announced the name of darren wilson the officer who had killed michael brown but almost in the same breath he also released this video footage. it allegedly showed brown stealing cigars from a convenience store in an unrelated incident his grieving family was incensed. and here. the motives for releasing the video and its timing were immediately questioned did you know that he was a suspect in a case or did he not and you say you can stop. safety what it seems like the sun as you say you are is not going to read you a statement here michael brown's family's beyond outraged at the devious ways the police chief has chosen to disseminate piecemeal information in a manner intended to assassinate the character of the sun what's the response that
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we have given you everything that we have now and everything that we can give you so that's from from our police department we have you have all everything we've got there's not looking at anybody else he's actually the finding of the release of this video michael brown's family held an impromptu press conference outside the police station in response to something that people try to defer to what the real problem is condemning what they branded as an attempt to criminalize him and justify the officer's actions so whatever that took place there had nothing to do with an individual getting down on his hands and knees raising his hands in the air is saying don't shoot this is the universal call for eyes to brenda and i can hear my cousin's voice right now is that speech saying don't shoot. down at ground 0 later that evening news of the video's release had spread.
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that. people were angry. but instead of trying to diffuse the tension by minimizing police presence the vehicles were out once again. it didn't take long before things started to happen. soon a small group started smashing store windows ok well there's looting starting now you see people about why can't i just back i think i get. this guy. but then another group of young men quickly moved in to stop looting why why you stand. and there. is a good. one is no. i never lie.
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so the guys protecting the convenience store is saying that they blame the police very blaming the situation a pairing in this manner in the allman vehicles and the why and carry again and they say that's the reason why people got angry started looting stores going to go and try to speak to the police and also why they deployed like this often everything is happening. so the media. who's who who's in charge here what you need the commanding officer very neat to speak the commanding officer a right here thank you. be the colliding officer no but we need you to get to a safe spot we just we we've been spending time with the crowd and they're asking why the police deployed in this way with the armored vehicles and the military give their understanding was that i was going to be there trying to maintain state but why did you feel it's necessary to bring out the armored vehicles i mean we're talking with our reason for talking you need to either go ahead where you after you
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want to be or don't talk is really when i can speak to. and anyone there's no media contact they were told not right now that's what sheriff. the state had promised a different approach. but the militarized response was back and no one could tell us why. meanwhile down the street the police continue to advancing on the protesters no going back the looting had stopped but it seemed like anger and distrust were growing once again started up. the 1st riots yeah. 43 it was a crime just pure emotion. i feel the way these kids is the war that these kids have no outlay and you want to know to choose. to go for it just. during the protests on the streets of ferguson we've met ronald and solomon. they'd be now
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demonstrating every night since the shooting. there from northern st louis county an area that includes ferguson and is predominantly african-american. that anger and frustration of the police ran deep as they die just all the rest of it on date night cheech and i don't belong to her do the police and have got some strikes and black and male. 2 strikes all we gotta do is miss the blanket and we stretched out in the middle of the street that's what people say to you strikes you make a face that a cop strike 3 you're you going to jail for some where it's not just the perception of unfair treatment they have no connection to don't call julie in as police officers patrolling the area and enforcing the law all adult has proved his head of the local and double a.c.p. chapter which found a federal civil rights complaint against the st louis county police for
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disproportionately targeting blacks a young black kid can live in the urban area and when he leaves his house and any lawful wall coy's going to work he's going to school he said to be stopped by police he says to be question he so did they had to produce identification he said to be ran through the system and c.b.s. and then the wants and the case in some cases that have been for no reason at all inaudible even if they avoid the police these young men have stacked against them. the unemployment rate for african-americans in this county is 3 times that of whites st louis is very probably one of the most segregated communities in the country. both right. only and so as economically as african-american moving and whites move out and what happens also with that is someone has been jobs so on the basis of living conditions go with it. among black males
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aged 16 to 240 no never never the unemployment rate has reached nearly 50 percent who are coming back to losing hope what do we have to bank on after school i want to cause. a medical if i want to be in the medical field i found out i had a felony guess what happened i spent $20000.00 for nothing. i get my hands dirty working on course not. because i'm a yoof feel like a bag of. what i'm pose to build. some are you angry hey oh yeah. so when people talk about. the anger that they they feel. it's not just about norm for some and it's that it's about it's about life in general you some people want to roll over and say we got older generation they just be like hey don't talk to the police like they still like them we want peace and
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a crazy it would i don't know just be quiet just be quiet and i would have been a freedom of speech why is my modify what happened and. the ferguson police department declined all repeated requests for an interview this is big in my ground he says begin to trayvon martin this is about making sure it doesn't have any light on pacifiers for many i thought with a bone and they think you're going to be able to get away with the with the guild auto maasai no easy stops issue never happens. after moving 2 weeks of protests. august the 25th the community of ferguson came together for a day of mourning as michael brown's family laid their son to rest. the family had asked for calm.
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thank you. thank you thank you. at st peter's cemetery a crowd of family members and friends watched as michael brown's coffin was buried . as the mourners went home michael brown's mother said her final goodbyes to her son . i know that that's going to be a problem but michael troy said always got me a problem at night moment but you know what you end up honestly young brother so i got nothing and i stand right back and that's why they competed a much better so that's of course they want to talk to all right so it's all for
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all right hand me. the day after the funeral in downtown st louis people gathered to announce the foundation of a new movement it's called hands up united states government well well well executed with demonstrators here saying they're going to march to the office of the u.s. attorney here in st louis and they're calling for an investigation a nationwide investigation of systematic police brutality. the u.s. department of justice later announced it was launching a broad civil rights investigation into the practices of the ferguson police department. separate from its investigation of the michael brown shooting. the for this group and the community they represent their underlying message is unlikely to change. their calls for justice are bigger than just ferguson michael
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brown. were. there about fighting to change a system they say is stacked against them from birth. ferguson says he on the sage from the faultline series finding rewind return to ferguson to see what changed and how far the community has managed to move on. award winning st louis filmmaker chrysalis lives just a few meters from where mike brown was shot has a unique perspective on the divisions that remain in ferguson today i've lived in ferguson in excess of 13 years. you know this is basically this
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was home for me but in this part of town this is where all of your social public services are this is where your economic development is emphasizing this is predominately where or for the most part where most of your white residents stay. so as we go on to this overpass here that's going to be pretty much we're going to approach this intersection of ferguson avenue and west florissant that's where the big standoff between the people in the police were. you know it was pretty much a peaceful protest people were standing on the ground you know sitting on the ground people had their hands up. and it was just you know it was just a standoff in v.n. as the evening progressed and i got to around like 9 10 o'clock. that's when the other activities kicked off. and that's the actual spot where the quake sure was and that got burned down so it's on the left here. but a lot of the business is that on this side of town. you know i haven't recovered or
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haven't rebuilt since what happened in 2014. a don't 1st prove the prison name of a saint lucie bring to the national association for the advancement of colored people. you know there's been some improvement the. state legislature did and you know then you have to then you have to things like what the urban league is doing on a site where in the. things they don't want to deal with unemployment mail thing given the training and given the background you know those are improvement but then that a day is equivalent to a prison in ocean trying to call them through. the racial make. them police department i mean the. stance and dramatically change well.
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most of the significant achievements we have achieved in this country as relates to civil rights advancements the vast majority i'm happy and you do legislate to do chords and so. the rule is that we get in that thing that happened those could not have happened without the protest the willing to sacrifice themselves because they in a day the brutality that they suffer and which we did of courts and got favorable ruling somebody had to had to be on the receiving end in. you know when i look at where his body is right and my apartment was right around the corner here right so this spot in the pavement right here on this patch of payment this is where his body lay after he was shot 6 times this is where they said they had his hands up and they were for 4 and
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a half hours his body lead out and so he laid out here and cooked for that amount of time and so really a lot of the crowd presence to happen was not necessarily because somebody got shot of course people are here because of that but. being out here one hour 2 hours 3 and 3 hours in the body still a beer and for a portion of that time it wasn't even covered up is very horrific it's very shocking the images in the video started spreading toward social media and so when the police talk about their response as far as the crowd bills and how that happened they're responding to a crowd because you left the body here and for 4 and a half hours and what we know being here in missouri in a lot of other places across the country is this would not happen in white communities. well that's it from join us again next time and there check out our rewind page at c.n.n. dot com for more films from the theories but for now goodbye.
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