Protesters upset over the shooting of Michael Brown and the events in Ferguson disrupted a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event held at Harris-Stowe State University, a historically black university in St. Louis.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, about two dozen protesters stormed into an auditorium where the observance was being held carrying an upside down flag and chanting “No Justice, No Peace.”
They also taunted students and clergy members in attendance, accusing them of being part of the “establishment,” the Post-Dispatch reported.
“They came in here (being) so very disrespectful,” Shaquell Humphries, a freshman at Harris-Stowe, told the paper. “There are old folks and little kids in that auditorium and they (the protesters) started cussing.”
Protesters take the stage unannounced during #MLK celebration event inside Harris-Stowe. https://t.co/KUoX5xTme4
— Koran Addo (@KoranAddo) January 19, 2015
The raucous group marched to the school after splintering away from a larger vigil held in downtown St. Louis. After leaving the auditorium, the Ferguson demonstrators exchanged words with nonplussed Harris-Stowe students.
Harris-Stowe students hold peace signs in the air, tell protesters to leave campus outside today’s #MLK event. pic.twitter.com/ckJA1aLpr2 — Koran Addo (@KoranAddo) January 19, 2015
Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, also intervened to quiet the protesters.
#STL MLK march generational divide bursts on stage at Harris Stowe, #MikeBrown mom chides those who interrupted pic.twitter.com/qt3gMYslSK
— David Carson (@PDPJ) January 19, 2015
Still more signs outside #ReclaimMLK event at Harris-Stowe. #MLK pic.twitter.com/ok3URgHDg8
— Koran Addo (@KoranAddo) January 19, 2015