FERGUSON, MO, AUGUST 20 (RIA Novosti) — Police in Ferguson, Missouri, use military hardware from foreign wars against civilian protests over the killing of an unarmed African-American teenager by police, anti-war campaigner Gerry Condon told RIA Novosti.
“What is happening in Ferguson is the result of a national mind-set that violence solves problems. Thirteen years of war has militarized our society. We see equipment designed for the battlefield used in our nation’s streets on citizens,” said Condon, president of the group Veterans For Peace.
"We are military veterans who have served the state as agents of violence. We were given the tools and authority to take ‘enemy’ lives and been excused for taking the lives of innocents for the state. We can recognize the abuse of power and the excessive use of force,” he said.
Ferguson, a mostly African-American suburb of St Louis of some 21,000 residents, has been shaken by protests since the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed teen, as he walked with a friend on a residential street in the afternoon on August 9.
Missouri National Guard troops have been deployed to tackle the violence, which has grown fiercer as peaceful protesters were joined by looters from California and New York, police said. Law enforcement officers have been criticized for using tear gas, rubber bullets and other heavy-handed measures.
