Michael Brown’s Death: Ferguson Commemorates First Anniversary

People in Ferguson, Missouri, are commemorating the first anniversary of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

On the eve of Sunday’s anniversary, several hundred marched through Ferguson in his honor, led by his father.

The shooting of Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson sparked demonstrations across America.

Along with killings of unarmed black men elsewhere in the US, it also fuelled a national protest movement against racial bias by the police.

Activists and religious figures from across the country are among those who have gathered this weekend in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri.

Saturday’s rally was peaceful and heavily policed.

Michael Brown’s father, also called Michael, said: “Some families got justice through Michael Brown’s legacy, and that helped them. But I’m still trying to get through.”

On Sunday, a march is planned from the site of the shooting to a local church.

Participants are expected to observe a four and a half minute silence to reflect the approximately four-and-a-half hours that Michael Brown’s body lay in the street.

The protests, which sometimes involved violent clashes between demonstrators and police, continued in Ferguson for weeks after the killing.

The protest movement gained fresh impetus in November, when a grand jury decided not to charge Darren Wilson.

Officer Darren Wilson, who argued that he was acting in self-defense, resigned from the police force in November.

In March, a justice department investigation found evidence of widespread racial bias in the Ferguson police department.

The report led to several high profile resignations, including the chief of police.

The “Black Lives Matter” movement that emerged in the wake of 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death has focused attention on the troubled relationship between black communities and police forces in a number of US states.