WASHINGTON, Nov 25 – President Barack Obama called for calm Monday night, moments after a Missouri prosecutor announced there would be no indictment against the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. His measured tone stood in stunning contrast to the images of violence on the streets of Ferguson that intensified on a split screen.
As the President spoke — warning protesters that throwing bottles and smashing car windows won’t help — some members of the crowds of hundreds in Ferguson were doing just that. Police responded by firing tear gas. Obama said anger over a grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson is an “understandable reaction.”
But he urged protesters to remain peaceful and called on law enforcement officers in the city of Ferguson to exercise “care and restraint in managing peaceful protests that may occur.” “We are a nation built on the rule of law, and so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make,” Obama said late Monday night.
“There are Americans who agree with it and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry. It’s an understandable reaction. But I join Michael’s parents in asking anyone who protests this decision to do so peacefully.” Elsewhere in the country, angry demonstrators took to the streets peacefully in New York, Seattle, Chicago and Washington, as more than 120 vigils and gatherings were organized nationwide. Some are scheduled for Tuesday.