Yes, Police Used Tear Gas on Protesters in Ferguson

This was the scene in Ferguson, Missouri as President Obama spoke tonight about the grand jury results in the police shooting of Michael Brown: the president urging non-violence on one side, police conflict with protesters

via MSNBC

Quite the contrast. The images went out on live TV, and reports from the scene indicated that police had deployed tear gas, just like they had during protests over the summer.

But was it actually gas? At 9:15, shortly after protests got going, the St. Louis County Police Department tweeted that they had used smoke, and not gas. Several news outlets repeated the claim.

But it sure didn't look that way on CNN, where reporters on the scene appeared to have been tear-gassed on live TV:

And, as it turns out, the police were deploying gas, as the department eventually confirmed on Twitter.

At this point, a few hours later in the evening, it's hard to tell what is smoke fired by cops, what is tear gas, and what is smoke from the multiple buildings that are on fire in downtown Ferguson.

#Ferguson #MichaelBrownShooting