St. Louis, Missouri – Grieving
family members were joined by thousands of mourners at the funeral of Michael
Brown, an unarmed black youth whose killing by a white police officer in the
town of Ferguson triggered weeks of unrest.
US civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton, called
for a "fair and impartial investigation" into August 9, when Brown was shot and killed on a leafy residential street, which
sparked days of protests among mostly-black residents who railed against
harassment by a mostly-white police force.
"We are not anti-police, we respect
police," Sharpton told an emotionally-charged congregation that was
frequently brought to its feet in applause. "But those police that are
wrong need to be dealt with just like those in our community who are wrong need
to be dealt with."
Brown’s body lay at the modern red-brick Friendly
Temple Missionary Baptist Church in an elaborate coffin, topped with the red
baseball cap of his local team, the St. Louis Cardinals, which he wore when he
was shot six times in his home suburb of Ferguson.
Brown "stated to the family that one day the
world would know his name. He did not know he was offering up a divine
prophecy," Brown’s cousin, Eric Davis, told mourners. "But we are
here today remembering the name of Michael Brown."
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