Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) on Sunday did not denounce the curfew enforced in Ferguson Saturday night, after one person was shot and seven were arrested during a small protest.
CNN’s “State of the Union” host Candy Crowley asked him if the curfew he imposed was “counterproductive.”
“Last night’s curfew, I think everybody worked well,” Nixon responded. “We’re always disappointed when things aren’t perfect. But thousands of people spoke last night, thousands of people marched and not a single gunshot fired by a member of law enforcement last night.”
The person shot is in critical condition, and police say he was not wounded by a law enforcement officer.
Nixon lamented that the second night with the Missouri Highway Patrol leading the police presence did not go as well as the first. The governor said that he initiated the change in approach after he saw the “militarization of police.”
“That went well until the second night, and we had some agitation,” he said.
He did not say whether he would impose a curfew again Sunday night and that officials and community members would be meeting Sunday morning to assess the situation.
Worked well, with someone shot and others arrested? Or, coulda been worse…??
He seems quite satisfied to set a pretty low bar…and then fail to meet even that standard. “Only one person shot and a few arrests” does not constitute success, and at what price? If we lock everybody in their homes it seems to be better, so I guess that should become the new standard of behavior.
The curfew last night meant:
Peaceful protesters were attacked with tear gas, smoke bombs, rubber-coated metal bullets, and LRAD sirens (an attack on their ears.)
Journalists were kept in a pen by cops and told that they’d be arrested under the curfew if they left the pen.
It went better when Commander Ron Johnson was not saddled with a tape deliberately released by Chief Jackson to incite more riots. If Nixon can’t control the rouge police operation in Ferguson, he’s never going to be able to keep the peace there.
It’s time to play some political hardball behind the scenes to get Chief Jackson put on paid leave. I thought that had actually happened when Commander Johnson had been brought it.
If Jackson does not resign after compromising the investigation after irresponsibly releasing that tape, everyone from the prosecuting attorney to the FBI to the Governor must call the bastard out in public.
State Trooper Commander Ron Johnson cannot do his job while this corrupt small town tyrant is blindsiding his attempts at every turn to quell the protests.
The media pen looked like a combination of embedded media and a Free Speech Zone. Not really any different than the way that Chief Jackson was operating. We’ve gone from two steps forward with Commander Ron Johnson hugging people to four steps back with tear gas and barricades.
Do the Powers That Be in Ferguson have a serious fondness for Les Misérables?