A Justice Department report last week concluded that police in Ferguson, Missouri acted on orders to make protesters move on, violating their rights to assembly and free speech. Withholding information about the police shooting of Michael Brown also aggravated the unrest and increased animosity toward the authorities. (The Christian Science Monitor, June 320, 2015, by Jim Salter and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press)
The report, “Press Freedom Under Fire in Ferguson,” last October also documented that while some of the police on duty allowed the press to do their job, others obstructed them, sometimes bullying or arresting them. The report recommendations included foregoing militarized policing and better training on respecting the free press. (Pen America, October 27, 2014)