It would be an overstatement to say developments in Ferguson last night were quiet, though compared to Monday night, the violence subsided. The overnight report from the msnbc team on the ground:
Protesters returned to the streets of Ferguson Tuesday for a predominantly peaceful night of demonstrations that eventually gave way to small and isolated outbursts of damage to local businesses and property on a night marked by a heightened National Guard presence.Scores of demonstrators braved the bitter cold and gathered before the Ferguson Police Department Tuesday night as isolated flare-ups of destruction to public property and tense stand-offs between the crowd and police at times resulted in protesters being taken away into custody.
In an early morning press conference, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters, “Generally it was a much better night.” That said, there were at least 44 arrests — mostly for misdemeanors — and as NBC News’ report noted, windows were broken at City Hall.
The improved conditions coincided with a vastly larger National Guard presence, with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) more than tripling the number of guardsmen and women to 2,200 last night.
What made last night especially noteworthy, though, were the related protests in cities far from St. Louis.
Hasani Gittens reported overnight:
Anger over a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officer who shot Michael Brown to death continued to reverberate around the country Tuesday, with protests and demonstrations from coast to coast.A melee broke out after protesters shut down a San Francisco highway, a car plowed through a crowd in Minneapolis and marchers in New York City caused a 12-block backup at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel.
There were related protests in Philadelphia, D.C., Boston, Seattle, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Southern California, among other communities.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."