ST. LOUIS, Mo.--Crowds grew larger and more diverse as peaceful protesters shut down parts of the city while the investigations into the deaths of two black teenagers killed by police went on with few answers.
"Ferguson October," a planned weekend of 4-day protests, happened Saturday without the violence, rioting and looting that characterized earlier demonstrations. The families of both Michael Brown and Vonderrit Myers Jr. urged people to keep calm yet pressure authorities on the cases of the two late men. A grand jury is still meeting to determine if the officer who killed Brown will be charged and St. Louis Metropolitan Police are still looking into whether Myers' shooting was justified.
"We are fighting for our lives," said Tef Poe, a local rapper and activist. "We are not going home. This is not a fly-by-night."
Brown, 18, was killed Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo. by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. Police say there was a struggle inside the officer's car and at some point Brown reached for the Wilson's weapon. However, Brown's family says the teen was killed as he raised his hands to surrender to Wilson.
Myers' family said the teen, who was also 18, was unarmed when he was murdered Wednesday by an overzealous officer who racially profiled him in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis.
However, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson said Myers was shot when he got into a "physical altercation" with an officer. Myers, was allegedly being chased by that officer when the teen turned and "pointed the gun at the officer and fired at least three rounds before his gun jammed," Dotson said.
Tef Poe spoke at a rally held shortly after some 3,000 people marched in downtown St. Louis. to the city's famous Arch Saturday. The group was led by an olive pick-up truck carrying young activists, Doug Hollis, who is a cousin of both Brown and Myers and Anthony Shahid, one of the most visible community leaders who has been protesting since Brown's death.
The boisterous gathering included people from many races who said they were committed to stopping police brutality. A number of speakers told the crowd that America must change the way it treats black and brown people.
Willie Kilpatrick, the Myers' family's pastor and spokesperson, insisted to protesters that there is more to Myers' death than what police have said. "The police don't always tell the truth," Kilpatrick said. "Our son was not involved in a shootout with police. The police shot our son dead with one shooter and that was the police."
For Jessica Caldwell, 30, this weekend's events are a chance to teach her black son about the importance of protesting and the dangers of racism. She brought, Jayceon Street, 4, to Saturday's march wearing a black shirt that said "I am Mike Brown."
"He is a black boy, who will be 18, and who comes from a single household so all the odds are against him," Caldwell, of St. Louis, said. "The message to him is just because your skin is brown that does not limit your education, your living, who you are or your thinking."
Meanwhile, protesters vowed to keep disrupting life in Ferguson and St. Louis until Brown and Myers' deaths get properly handled. Organizers said they expected thousands of people to take part in marches, rallies and a yet-to-be-detailed act of civil disobedience throughout Columbus Day weekend.
Early Sunday, dozens of protesters held a sit-in at a QuikTrip nearby where Myers was killed. Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd. Organizers say more than a dozen people were arrested.
Dotson tweeted out this message at 3:06 a.m. local time: "Protestors now throwing rocks at the police. Arrests have been made for continued illegal behavior."
Later, Ferguson October organizer released a statement. "The police brutalized peaceful people protesting their brutality," it said. "With batons and chemical agents they attacked people peacefully sitting on the ground and the reporters who were there with them."
Friday, people marched outside the Clayton, Mo. office of St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch, confronted officers at the Ferguson police station and gathered nearby the scenes where both Brown and Myers were killed. Protesters have been calling for McCulloch to step down from handling Brown's case. They want him to allow a special prosecutor to handle prosecuting Wilson.
Edward Magee, spokesman for McCulloch, said evidence is being presented to the grand jury when they are all available to meet. "We have a very rough estimate of them being completed in mid-November," Magee said.
Dotson said the officer in Myers' case shot back, killing the teen. The officer was not injured. "An investigation will decide if the officer's behavior was appropriate," Dotson said.
In the meantime, anger and sadness continues to mount among protesters. Osagyefo Sekou, who is helping coordinate the weekend events, urged the crowd to keep demonstrating.
"When history is written, when it's all said and done, they will say of you and they will say of me, there stood a generation that would not bow down," he said. "There stood a generation, that stood in solidarity."
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