A group of prominent activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement were arrested in St. Louis, Missouri on Monday during a protest against police brutality.
The protesters, including leaders Deray Mckesson and Johnetta Elzie and Cornel West, were part of a group of 50 or so protesters who crossed a barricade outside the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse during a "Moral Monday" demonstration. All three have been released, though others are still being held at U.S. District Court in St. Louis, the site of the protest.
A group of 57 people were arrested while sitting and chanting outside the courthouse steps, which was captured on social media and broadcast in real-time.
.@deray now in custody. #FergusonAction pic.twitter.com/zt3Fp9TC9n— Nicholas J.C. Pistor (@nickpistor) August 10, 2015
Moments before she was taken into custody, Elzie tweeted an apparent reference to the death of Sandra Bland, who died in police custody. "If I'm arrested today please know I'm not suicidal," she said. "I have plenty to live for. I did not resist, I'm just black." The tweet has been retweeted more than 7,000 times.
If I'm arrested today please know I'm not suicidal. I have plenty to live for. I did not resist, I'm just black.— ShordeeDooWhop (@Nettaaaaaaaa) August 10, 2015
The Moral Monday protests were first started by NAACP North Carolina chapter President William Barber as a way to protest what he believed to be racist actions by the North Carolina legislature, and the concept has been steadily adopted by activists in other states.
The protest was one of many planned demonstrations against police brutality that were scheduled to take place in St. Louis and nearby Ferguson around the one-year anniversary of the death of Mike Brown, a black teenager who was shot and killed by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014.
On Sunday, a peaceful demonstration was interrupted by gunfire that police have said was unrelated to the protest.
[video id=F1ajR4djoT95iDBq8Za60RYSWMBPJvF2]
Officers shot and critically wounded an 18-year-old black man named Tyrone Harris after they said Harris and a small group of others fired at officers. Harris underwent surgery at a nearby hospital and is reportedly in critical condition.
He was charged on Monday with a number of crimes related to the alleged shooting ("Four counts of Assault on Law Enforcement in the First Degree, five counts of Armed Criminal Action and one count of Discharging or Shooting a Firearm at a Motor vehicle," per the police) and is being held -- still in his hospital bed -- on a $250,000 cash-only bond.
Police on Sunday night made clear that those who shot at police were not a part of the protest, and in a statement to Mashable, St. Louis County police said that they use plainclothes officers to try to identify anyone in a protest crowd who is carrying a weapon. That said, those who fired on officers were not the only ones arrested.
An activist who filmed Harris lying on the street after being shot was also briefly detained for reasons that are unclear.
pic.twitter.com/CoDwsvbEdw— Search4Swag (@search4swag) August 10, 2015
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency in the area, which allows county police more ability to control how officers operate in and around Ferguson.
Stenger also told local radio station KMOX that officials may issue a curfew in the area to further protect life and property in and around St. Louis County.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office told the Huffington Post's Ryan J. Reilly that those arrested would "get a court date and face a fine of around $125."