ST. LOUIS – One day after 33 arrests were made during the demonstrations in downtown St. Louis and the Central West End, protests continued into Saturday in St. Louis.
Most of the day, protesters convened at different spots around the metro area, chanting in parks and in malls. Around 7 p.m. a large group gathered at the Delmar Loop. For a couple hours, the group remained peaceful, marching and chanting in the streets.
Among the crowd was Nick Cannon, former host of NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Cannon was wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who caused controversy for kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.
Around 9 p.m., organizers announced to the crowd that they deemed the protest a success, citing zero arrests reported for the entirety of the day. The crowd dispersed shortly thereafter.
About an hour later, a smaller, separate crowd gathered at the intersection of Delmar Boulevard and Leland Avenue. A police line formed once the tension between demonstrators and police grew. One person reportedly threw red paint on the shield a University City Police Officer was holding.
On #Delmar right now. We’re being told to disperse immediately. #stockleyverdict #STL @ksdknews pic.twitter.com/2bQWsbnZJO
— Christina Coleman (@ChristinaKSDK) September 17, 2017
A short time later, the St. Louis County and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Departments were called in to assist the University City Police, a press release from the St. Louis County Police Department said.
As protesters and police clashed, one of the windows in the nearby Starbucks was broken. Several other businesses and cars were also vandalized as police moved in on the crowd as the tops of trash cans were thrown at storefront windows. 5 On Your Side’s Jacob Long tweeted, “Almost every storefront in the Loop is destroyed.”
The University City Police Department said 23 businesses and five police vehicles were damaged by people throwing rocks, bricks, water bottles filled with paint thinner or gasoline and balloons filled with red liquid. They said no civilians or police officers were seriously injured.
Damage in the Loop
Posted by Jacob Long on Saturday, September 16, 2017