Riot Police Enforcing State-Mandated Curfew in Ferguson, Tear Gas Fired at Protesters, Reports of Shot Fired

Jay Nixon declared a “state of emergency” in
Ferguson, ordering a curfew between midnight and 5:00 a.m. CDT. At
about 12:45 a.m. police fired tear gas at protesters. According to
accounts on Twitter, police announced that they would be arresting
everyone. Cops created a “zone” for journalists to remain in.
Huffington Post journalist Ryan Reilly said on
Twitter that he and other reporters asked cops to allow a small
group of reporters to get closer to the police action—they were,
predictably, denied. The adage that “it’s better to ask forgiveness
than seek permission” probably applies here.

Meanwhile in a pretty depressing journalism fail, Politico’s
Byron Tau, also in Ferguson, explained on Twitter that the First
Amendment’s “subject to reasonable time and place restrictions.” He
can’t witness police enforcing those restrictions because he’s in
the “first amendment zone” behind riot police, where the view is
obscured.

There are also reports of shots fired from multiple observers on
the ground. Reilly tweeted that police radio also mentioned a
person shot, though it was unclear if it was by a rubber bullet or
the traditional kind. CNN commentator Marc
Lamont Hill, on the ground in Ferguson, tweeted that a “kid”
was shot but not by police.

You can watch what’s happening on a stationary livestream from
Argus Radio here
and a roving one from Vice News here. You can follow a bunch of
people on Twitter, including the ones linked to above. I’ll keep
retweeting for a while longer so you can check my
feed to find other observers to follow.