MOSCOW, August 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Vice-Speaker of the Russian lower house and senior official of United Russia ruling party Sergei Neverov urged international organizations to set up a special committee which would assess actions that the US authorities had taken when breaking up riots in the US city of Ferguson, Missouri.
“Events in the state of Missouri showed that the United States has serious problems with racial discrimination,” the press service quoted Neverov as saying. Meanwhile, “the question is whether such a brutal suppression of protest actions was justified,” he said. “The world community should not stay aside,” Neverov said. “Moreover, the situation has emerged in a country which claims to set an example of democracy.”
In this regard, Neverov urged the UN Committee of Human Rights, NATO Parliamentary Assembly and European institutions to give assessment to the Missouri incident. “It is better to set up an international committee which would try to find whether the action taken by the authorities was lawful,” he added.
“US protest and concerns over the tragedy should not be suppressed by a new act of aggression,” head of the State Duma Security Committee Irina Yarovaya said. “The authorities should take more responsible action and should draw conclusions aimed not against people, but the very possibility of murder,” she added.
The Russian lawmaker noted that the United States had ‘double standards’ over the use of violence. “Even legal use of force is condemned in other countries, I will underscore not murder, but 'the use of force', and absolutely different protests are voiced. Meanwhile, the US uses direct violence as the only way to settle issues,” the head of the parliamentary committee said.
Riots in St. Louis neighborhood Ferguson have broken out after a police officer had shot to death black teenager Michael Brown, 18, on August 9. City residents accused the authorities of excessive use of force. At multi-thousand protests which continue for more than a week, police had to use tear gas against demonstrators, and US National Guard units were brought in the city to help local police.
On August 19, police have shot to death a 23-year-old black man presumably threatening a law enforcer with a knife near Ferguson. The man died from sustained wounds at the scene. The incident has also becomethe focus of local media and public, because it had occurred near the St. Louis neighborhood.