St. Louis Couple Captured On Video Pointing Guns At Protesters

TOPLINE

A group of St. Louis, Missouri, protesters encountered a white couple pointing guns at them as they marched to Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house in a Sunday night demonstration, which was captured on video and viewed millions of times on social media by Monday morning before being retweeted by President Trump.

KEY FACTS

Big number

Nearly 43,000. That’s how many signatures a petition demanding Krewson’s resignation had by early Monday morning.

Key background

St. Louis has struggled with tensions over policing and racial inequality, and is just over 11 miles from the city of Ferguson, where Michael Brown, a Black man, was fatally shot by police six years ago. St. Louis residents have been rallying for weeks since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the Post reported, with some protesters personally handing letters to Krewson demanding a local prison be shuttered and the police defunded. It was those letters Krewson read aloud from during her Friday Facebook Live briefing, and in addition to revealing constituents’ demands, she revealed their names and home addresses (an action referred to as “doxxing,”) which drew swift backlash from local politicians and the Missouri chapter of the ACLU. The Sunday protesters, upon reaching Krewson’s home, painted the word “resign” on the street out front.

Chief critics

“As a leader, you don’t do stuff like that,” State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge told the protesters Sunday, referring to Krewson’s doxxing. “It’s only right that we visit her at her home.”

Further reading

St. Louis couple point guns at peaceful crowd of protesters calling for mayor to resign (Washington Post)

Calls for resignation mount after St. Louis mayor releases names of individuals calling for police reform (CNN)