Missouri police declared Sunday “Darren Wilson Day,” commemorating the officer who shot dead Black teenager Michael Brown, on the year anniversary of the controversial event which sparked a new civil rights movement, according to a post on the police union’s Facebook page.
The message on the Columbia Police Officers Association’s Facebook page called Wilson "an innocent, but persecuted, officer," and denied support for him had anything to do with race, because "the fact that he was thoroughly investigated ... and found he did NOTHING wrong."
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Some 20 protesters gathered at midday Monday in front of Columbia Police Department headquarters, Columbia Daily Tribune reports.
“I found the post offensive, and I thought I needed to stand with the community and say what the police department thinks about it," police Chief Ken Burton said at the protest. "It was insensitive at best, and provocative at worst."
The mayor of the Missouri town, Robert McDavid, hit back at the Facebook post with his own, calling it “divisive.”
"The Columbia Police Officers Association (CPOA) is a trade organization that is not accountable to the City of Columbia,” he wrote.
Social media reacted swiftly to the news of “Darren Wilson Day,” with many showing disgust that some Americans would commemorate the shooter of a teenage boy on the anniversary of his death.
MO cop union's declaring #DarrenWilsonDay is DISGUSTING. Saluting a cold-blooded killer is sick. Shame!!!
— Holly Tooker (@kellabeck)
August 10, 2015
"Darren Wilson Day" is trending at the same time St Louis is arresting #BlackLivesMatter protesters amazing right ?
— Joe Smith SDK (@JoeSmithSDK)
August 10, 2015
The same people who are calling for a State of Emergency & asking for calm have declared today Darren Wilson Day. Yes, really.
— PoliticalGroove (@PoliticalGroove)
August 10, 2015
Darren Wilson day is the most depressing thing I've ever heard of, It's actually worse than the white supremacists crowdfunding for him.
— Roll Deadlift (@R0mination)
August 10, 2015
Others on social media used the hashtag to show their support for the police union and the officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, with some posting smiley faces over pictures of his dead body and calling the teenager a “thug.”
After Monday’s protest outside the police station, the union removed the “Darren Wilson Day” post, and replaced it.
"The CPOA’s post on Sunday regarding Darren Wilson was interpreted in a manner that was not the intended message. In an effort to resolve the confusion, the CPOA wants to say this plainly: CPOA supports Officer Darren Wilson and all law enforcement officers who endure similar situations,” it read, although it has also since been removed.
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The organization’s website information has been replaced with “Black Lives Matter.”
The anniversary of Brown’s death was already a fraught situation, with peaceful protesters with the Black Lives Matter movement, including Cornel West, arrested, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, declared a state of emergency Monday afternoon.
Cornel West and DeRay McKesson are among the leading Black Lives Matter activists arrested outside a courthouse in Ferguson St Louis on Monday afternoon.
Before his arrest, Deray posted scenes from the latest Ferguson protests and warned that “The officers at the DOJ have threatened to use chemical agents on protesters.”
In response to the protests, a state of emergency has been declared by St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger.
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