ST. LOUIS (AP) – Noisy demonstrators disrupted shopping at upscale suburban malls on Saturday and later marched through a popular district of bars and restaurants to protest a white St. Louis police officer’s acquittal in the killing of a black man, but the second day of protests was peaceful following sporadic vandalism and violence a night earlier.
A few hundred people shouted slogans such as “black lives matter” and “it is our duty to fight for our freedom’’ as they marched through West County Center mall in Des Peres to decry the judge’s verdict Friday clearing ex-officer Jason Stockley of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.
A short time later, a group demonstrated at Chesterfield Mall and a regional food festival. No arrests were reported at any of the demonstrations.
On Saturday evening, hundreds of protesters marched through the Delmar Loop of the St. Louis suburb of University City, known for concert venues, restaurants, shops and bars.
