Sports
St. Louis Police Group Demands Punishment for Rams Players in Ferguson Protest
Members of the St. Louis Rams raise their arms in awareness of the events in Ferguson, Mo., as they walk onto the field during introductions before an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
Cindy Boren, THE WASHINGTON POST
ST. LOUIS (The Washington Post)—The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association called on the NFL to punish five St. Louis Rams players who silently protested the Ferguson grand jury decision by standing with their hands raised in a “don’t shoot” post before taking the field Sunday.
The organization called on the team and the league to apologize for what it called a “display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.”
The NFL, however, will not fine the Rams players. “We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation,” the league said in a statement.
The SLPOA had noted in a statement (via KSDK.com):
Five members of the Rams entered the field today exhibiting the “hands-up-don’t-shoot” pose that has been adopted by protestors who accused Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson of murdering Michael Brown. The gesture has become synonymous with assertions that Michael Brown was innocent of any wrongdoing and attempting to surrender peacefully when Wilson, according to some now-discredited witnesses, gunned him down in cold blood.
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