US Protesters Renew Push to Replace County Prosecutor
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US protesters demanding an indictment of the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson are renewing their call for the removal of the county prosecutor who is presenting the case to a grand jury.
Scores of protesters marched Thursday outside the Buzz Westfall Justice Center, calling for the removal of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch.
McCulloch is handling the case of the August 9 shooting of Michael Brown, 18, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
The shooting touched off days of sometimes-violent protests in the St. Louis suburb of 21,000 people.
State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat, was among those delivering what they said were 70,000 signatures on a petition from people around the nation calling for the removal of McCulloch from the case.
McCulloch, who is white, is viewed with distrust by many African Americans in St. Louis County, who say he is overzealous in prosecuting black suspects and lenient toward police officers, USA Today reported.
In the meantime, the governor of the US state of Missouri, Jay Nixon, ordered the Missouri National Guard, which arrived Monday, to begin withdrawing as flare-ups have been easing. Police have made only a handful of arrests in the protest area on the past two nights, AP reported.
