THE GUARDIAN: A Missouri police union has condemned players from the St Louis Rams football team for making “hands-up” gestures on the field in solidarity with Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old shot dead in Ferguson, and has threatened to boycott NFL advertisers in response. The St Louis Police Officers Association claimed that officers found the actions of Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook, Chris Givens and Tre Mason to be “tasteless, offensive and inflammatory”, and demanded that they be disciplined. Five of the players emerged for their game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday with their hands aloft, a gesture used by protesters who claim that Brown was surrendering when he was shot dead by officer Darren Wilson on 9 August. Last week a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson. “It touched a lot of us, it added fuel to our fire,” Mason, who raised his hands following a fourth-quarter touchdown, told the Associated Press after the Rams’ 52-0 win. Britt said: “I don’t want the people in the community to feel like we turned a blind eye to it.” Cook added: “I just think there has to be a change.” MORE
ABC NEWS: The five Rams players who entered the field before Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders in St. Louis with their hands in the air in “don’t shoot” poses will not be fined for their actions, NFL and team sources tell ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. The players had used the team’s pregame introductions to offer a show of support for nearby Ferguson.As the Rams’ offense was introduced, tight end Jared Cook and receivers Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens and Tavon Austin stopped near the tunnel and raised their hands in a nod to the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Some witnesses said Brown had his hands up before being shot. Wilson, who is white, testified to the grand jury that Brown had hit him and reached for his gun. The St. Louis Police Officers Association called for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a “very public apology,” its statement read in part. “I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights,” SLPOA business manager Jeff Roorda said in the statement. “Well, I’ve got news for people who think that way: Cops have First Amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.” MORE
