ST. LOUIS_Hundreds of protesters marched through the Delmar Loop near nightfall Saturday, as St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson appealed to residents for calm and normalcy going into the second night of protests following Friday's acquittal of a white former police officer in the shooting death of a black suspect.
"These are not the images we want to see of our city," Krewson told reporters at an early evening news conference, referring to violence in the Central West End the night before that included damage to her house. "We have some work to do here."
The protests came after former St. Louis Patrolman Jason Stockley, who is white, was found not guilty of first-degree murder Friday after an August bench trial in the 2011 shooting of drug suspect Anthony Lamar Smith, who was black. Prosecutors alleged Stockley executed Smith following a car chase and then planted a gun in his car. Stockley maintained that Smith reached for the gun and that he shot Smith in self defense.
Krewson implored residents to "go about their lives" amid canceled events and uncertainty about how long the unrest would continue. "I know our small-business owners would appreciate seeing you again," she said. "Of course, go to work, of course go out to eat. We shouldn't be so fearful here."
In fact, even as protests continued elsewhere, things were already beginning to look normal again Saturday night in the Central West End, after Friday's violence there. People crowded into restaurants, some sitting outside. Some restaurants had boards over their windows with "we're open" written on them.
Protests during the day Saturday were generally peaceful, though the injuries to 11 police officers and dozens of arrests from Friday night loomed as warnings of how quickly a crowd can become "a mob," as Acting Police Chief Lawrence O'Toole put it at the same news conference.
"We will not tolerate violence," warned O'Toole, whose officers ended up using pepper spray and tear gas on protesters late Friday.
By shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday, more than a thousand protesters carrying "Black Lives Matter" signs and chanting things like "No Justice, No Profits" were blocking the major intersection near Washington University.
Police later closed Delmar for the marchers, who were relatively peaceful going into the evening. Some yelled "F _ _ the police!" while others shook officers' hands.
One brush with violence came on Forest Park Parkway, when a car pulled up to the marchers and stopped just short of them. Some protesters responded by surrounding and banging on the car, until protest organizers got them to let the driver leave.
At one point, Annie Smith, mother of shooting victim Anthony Lamar Smith, joined the marchers.
Protest organizers announced just before 9 p.m. that they were ending the demonstration for the night, and asked people to return home.
"They expected us to do things, but we needed to do things differently," one of the speakers told the crowd of more than 1,000 gathered near the former Cicero's restaurant in University City, referring to the generally peaceful day.
In previous protests, both this weekend and during the unrest in Ferguson in 2014, generally peaceful, organized marches during the day were often followed by violent impromptu demonstrations and property damage late at night.
Organizers Saturday night said they planned a "die in" on Sunday at 3 p.m. near St. Louis Police headquarters.
Officials earlier Saturday released a list of 33 people who were charged with crimes from Friday night's events. Charges included assault, destruction of property, resisting arrest and failure to disperse. One of those arrested had a home address in Iowa, another was listed as "homeless," and the rest were from St. Louis or the surrounding area.
Officials also released a list of injuries to the 11 unnamed officers. They included one officer with a broken jaw and another with a dislocated shoulder, both from thrown bricks, and various lesser injuries caused primarily by thrown objects.
Among property damage Friday night, police said in a statement, were broken windows and thrown red paint at Krewson's home; shattered windows at various locations in the area including a Subway sandwich shop, a Walgreen's, the St. Louis Public Library's Schlafly Branch, and several local businesses; broken vehicle windows including those on two police vehicles; and 18 fires.
Among numerous canceled St. Louis events for the weekend were planned concerts by U2 and Ed Sheeran, because police couldn't guarantee security.
