Following last night's 'massive protests' in St. Louis which saw at least 32 people arrested demonstrating the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white ex-cop who was found not guilty in the 2011 fatal shooting of a black man on Friday, protests spilled over on Sunday with a decidedly anti-capitalist bent. As we reported this morning, video from Friday night's protests showed demonstrators marching while chanting phrases including “no justice, no peace” and "if you kill our kids, we’ll kill your economy."
That sentiment continued on Saturday, when hundreds of demonstrators stormed West County Center Mall in St. Louis to carry on their demonstration for a second night.
Protesters descended on West County Mall in St Louis, Missouri, on Saturday
Fox News Correspondent Griff Jenkins reported, “Protesters take to a local mall chanting ‘No Justice, No Profits." The protesters said they wanted to shut down the mall to harm the city's economy as payback for acquitting the white cop.
The local Macy's shut its doors in fear of the crowd and there was an increased police presence at the mall.
Protesters take to a local mall chanting "No Justice, No Profits" #STLVerdict @FoxNews @foxandfriends #stockleyprotests pic.twitter.com/HgWfpqDZNU
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) September 16, 2017
Protesters were non-violent and marched through the mall chanting various slogans. Friday night's protests were decidedly more threatening according to media reports.
Increased police presence at the mall kept the demonstration peaceful
At the same time, U2 which was scheduled to perform a concert in St. Louis on Saturday, issued a statement on Saturday announcing it had cancelled its concert.
'We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size. 'We have also been informed that local crowd security personnel would not be at full capacity.
'In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans’ safety by proceeding with tonight’s concert. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment,' the band said in a statement. Ticketholders will be able to claim a refund online or at their place of purchase, they added.