Civil unrest in Ferguson was fuelled by the Black community’s already poor relationship with a highly militarized police force

On August 9th, an unarmed 18-year old Black teenager, Michael Brown, was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis. The following two weeks saw protests and riots in the town, culminating in the Governor of Missouri calling in the National Guard on August 18th. Tim Newburn takes a close look at the unrest in Ferguson, writing that it has parallels with similar riots in London in August, 2011. Both were sparked by the oppressive policing of black neighborhoods, but the most distinctive feature of the unrest in Ferguson was the militarized nature and reaction of local police forces.