Family, friends and supporters pause for a moment of silence at a memorial to Michael Brown, Sunday, August 9, 2015, in Ferguson, Missouri. Sunday marks one year since Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. AP
FERGUSON, United States – At least one demonstrator was injured as several shots were fired during clashes in the US city of Ferguson late Sunday on the first anniversary of the shooting of unarmed teen, Michael Brown.
An AFP journalist heard about two dozen shots ring out and saw one bloodied protester lying on the ground.
The St Louis County police department tweeted that “multiple shots” had been fired, and local media reported that one person had been taken to hospital.
The violence came at the end of a day of somber remembrance to mark the anniversary of the shooting of Brown by a white police officer Darren Wilson in a case that triggered violent unrest.
Demonstrations had been peaceful all day but a rowdy group of protesters later looted at least one store and faced off against police officers clad in riot gear.
Earlier, a crowd of hundreds observed 4½ minutes of silence.
Those who gathered to commemorate Brown began their silence at 12:02 p.m., the time he was killed, for a length of time that symbolized the 4½ hours that his body lay in the street after he was killed. Two doves were released at the end. Police largely remained away from the ceremony.
Michael Brown Sr. held hands with others to lead the march, which started at the site where his son, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November, but the shooting touched off a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Pausing along the route at a permanent memorial for his son, Michael Brown Sr. said, “Miss you.”
He had thanked supporters before the march for not allowing what happened to his son to be “swept under the carpet.”