Third Day of Protests in St Louis After Ex-Cop's Acquittal

Protests have continued for the third successive day in St Louis, Missouri, after the acquittal of a former policeman for the 2011 fatal shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith, a 24-year-old Black man who was killed following a car chase.

On Friday, Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson found the ex-officer, Jason Stockley, not guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Smith.

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Two nights of unrest followed, with a total 33 people arrested on the grounds of failing to disperse following orders from officers, hundreds of whom were clad in tactical armor.

In the latest demonstrations, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the barricaded police headquarters.

They then marched near St. Louis University without incident.

Events started peacefully the previous two nights, but violence broke out after sundown, shattering storefront windows and evoking memories of the riots following the 2014 shooting of a Black teenager by a white officer in nearby Ferguson, Missouri.

Unrest flared again on Saturday evening when about 100 protesters, some holding bats or hammers, skirmished with police in riot gear, resulting in at least nine arrests.

Sunday's crowd appeared to be the largest of the three days at more than 1,000 people.

As activists marched through central St. Louis, drummers set the beat for the chant: "If we don't get no justice, y'all don't get no peace."

Demonstrators also called out: "Anthony Lamar Smith" and later laid down in front of police headquarters, simulating death in a "die-in."

As a police officer made two arrests a block away from police headquarters, some rushed toward the officer, frightening him enough for him to jump in the car and quick drive in reverse through the crowd to get away, according to Reuters.

Nobody was injured, but the crowd started facing off against a police line, and some people threw bottles.

The St Louis police department said it had received reports of “significant property damage” on Sunday night and had ordered crowds to disperse in the area of Tucker and Pine.

The march came as the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed that it would not pursue a separate federal civil rights prosecution of former Officer Stockley on the grounds that insufficient evidence existed to prosecute the ex-cop. The department had come to the conclusion a year ago under then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, but didn't publicly state their judgment so as not to interfere with the state criminal case happening at the time.

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An informal group known as the Ferguson Frontline has organized the protests, focusing on what it describes as institutional racism that has allowed police to be cleared of criminal wrongdoing in several shootings of unarmed Black men.

"Windows can be replaced. Lives can't," said Missy Gunn, a member of Ferguson Frontline and mother of three children including a college-age son. She said she feared for him every night.

The 2014 riots in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, were sparked by the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police officer who was not indicted.

The Ferguson protests gave rise to Black Lives Matter, a growing movement that has staged protests across the United States.

In the 2011 incident, Smith was shot in his car after Stockley and his partner chased him following what authorities said was a drug deal.

Prosecutors argued that Stockley planted a weapon in Smith's car, but the judge believed the gun belonged to Smith.