U.S. After a Father’s Plea, Few in Missouri Try to Disrupt Traffic By MANNY FERNANDEZSEPT. 1, 2014 FERGUSON, Mo. — The father of the unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by a white police officer here last month asked protest organizers on Monday to postpone their planned shutdown of highway traffic in the St. Louis region. At a march in Ferguson on Saturday, organizers called on their supporters to shut down area highways on Labor Day to protest the killing of Michael Brown, 18, urging motorists to stop their vehicles at 4:30 p.m. in a four-and-a-half minute blockade. Mr. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., asked that the action be called off after meeting with organizers and state law enforcement officials. Most adhered to his request though several protesters did walk onto Interstate 270 around 4:30 holding up their hands, slowing and then stopping traffic for about four minutes before walking onto the shoulder. No arrests were made, said Mike O’Connell, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety. The announcement came the same day that one of the lead coordinators of a mass protest in St. Louis in 1999 that shut down Interstate 70 for one hour and led to more than 100 arrests alerted black leaders and officials that he wanted demonstrators to hold a similar blockade next week.The organizer — Eric E. Vickers, chief of staff for State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat — sent emails on Monday announcing that a shutdown of Interstate 70 was planned for Sept. 10, and was necessary to persuade Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri to remove the St. Louis County prosecutor, Robert P. McCulloch, from the case and appoint a special prosecutor. Mr. Vickers and other St. Louis activists have repeatedly used the threat of a traffic shutdown as a protest tactic in recent years. In 1999, protesters were demanding more highway construction jobs for black workers and contractors, and they persuaded state officials to create a training program that exists today. Several African-American leaders were skeptical that a new traffic shutdown would help their cause this time, but others supported the idea. In an interview on Sunday, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was among those arrested in St. Louis in 1999, said he was not against participating in a similar action, but only if it were organized properly. “We were very successful in 1999,” Mr. Sharpton said. “I will not call for something we cannot achieve. You’ve got to be very careful that your enthusiasm does not overstep the bounds of where it’s capable.” Mr. Vickers informed the governor of his plans in an email on Thursday, warning Mr. Nixon that activists would shut down Interstate 70 for four hours “if you do not immediately act.” The length of the blockade is symbolic. Mr. Brown’s body lay on the street for more than four hours before it was removed after he was shot and killed. Mr. Nixon’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Capt. Ronald S. Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol declined to comment about any planned highway shutdown. Alan Blinder contributed reporting from Ferguson, and Campbell Robertson from St. Louis. A version of this article appears in print on September 2, 2014, on page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: After a Father’s Plea, Few in Missouri Try to Disrupt Traffic . Order Reprints|Todays Paper|Subscribe
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 03:51:03 +0000
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