Ferguson Showdown Countdown Has Begun: Militarized Police, Heavily Armed Citizens Await Jury Decision. UN Action Urged

“No violence tolerated,” Missouri governor Jay Nixon says, as he beefs up his 1000-strong militarized police force in Ferguson and brings in the National Guard.

Correction: The grand jury is to possibly annouce an indictment, not a verdict as stated in the original version of this article.

Missouri citizens’ and officials’ bloody battle over civil and human rights has progressed to preparing for a gun showdown, expected any moment when the jury might announces an indictment based on police officer Darren Wilson’s evidence regarding his shooting to death unarmed black youth Michael Brown.

Generally, a grand jury can issue an indictment for a crime, a “true bill,” only if it finds, based upon the evidence presented to it, that there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed by a criminal suspect.

Citizens’ gun and riot gear spike with intensive direction action training, and Gov. Jay Nixon’s bringing in the National Guard and even heavier, specially trained law enforcement than militarized police deployed in Ferguson soon after a police officer killed black youth Michael Brown on Aug. 9 indicate why the United Nations has been asked to intervene.

Peace-building has not been the primary aim of officials in charge of the war-torn town.

Ferguson prepares for deadly storm

Gov. Jay Nixon announced Tuesday afternoon what the law enforcement plans are for when the grand jury makes its announcement in the Michael Brown shooting, an announcement likely to favor police officer Darren Wilson who killed Brown and one predicted to enrage oppressed African-Americans to their breaking point.

The state will be ready to quickly respond to any reports of violence that might occur after the grand jury decision, according to the governor. He has also deployed the National Guard tol be on standby and ready to intervene, allong with 1000 police officers “trained and ready” for the momentous announcement about police officer Darren Wilson.

Nixon did not give specifics. He emphasized that protesters’ civil rights will not be violated should they take to the streets. Previously, however, a federal judge ruled that officers did violate rights of demonstrators when they threatened arrests if people did not move after a few seconds.

Proving that violence begets violence, the shooting of the unarmed youth with his hands in the air begging the officer, “Don’t shoot!” sparked daily civil and human rights protests. The tension had been festering decades, allegedly due to repeatitive discriminatory practices against African-Americans in the southern town, a mainly Black inhabited suburb of St. Louis.

Ferguson became a scene from a war-torn country, shocking people globally this summer.  Protests were met with such heavy militarized police force using military-grade weapons on the citizens, unprecedented in United States history, it shocked the world. “Hands up. Don’t shoot!” has become the rally cry of people of color around the world in solidairity with outraged Ferguson residents.

Police used military weapons on the angry, sometimes out-of-control crowds this summer, beat many protesters, prevented some from getting to hospitals for injuries police inflicted and showe the world the police state that Americans face and the racial divide.

“That ugliness was not representative of Missouri and it cannot be repeated,” Nixon said Tuesday afternoon, as quoted by Reuters. “These [militarized police] measures are not being taken because we are convinced that violence will occur, but because we have a responsibility to prepare for any contingency.”

Nixon, however, has not, led a mutual-respect-based campaign, with town hall meetings led by professionals trained in racial tension mediation. Instead, the citizens have been left to their own devices, grieving and victimization on their own.

Whether deliberate, to spark a civil war and overt martial law as some have suggested, or just out of plain incompetence, Missouri officials’ callous response to years of racial tension culminating in the police shooting to death an unarmed black youth has laid the groundwork for what is anticipated to be a bloody showdown.

Calls for change in government, the criminal justice system and other areas to address long-standing complaints have thus far been unmet, according to locals now resorting to taking the law in their own hands, as reflected by a recent gun sale spike.

Steven King, who owns Metro Shooting Supplies near Ferguson told CNN that sales of firearms for personal protection have increased nearly 50 percent.

As in preparation for a deadly storm, stores in Ferguson and nearby areas are boarding up their fronts in fear of possible riots after the grand jury decision.

Customers bought 100 guns this weekend and a typical weekend brings about 30 buyers as residents take up arms.

“Every time that door opens, we see new faces everyday. Dozens of new faces are coming in,” King said.

Meanwhile today, Michael Brown’s mother and father testified before a U.N. committee in Geneva Switzerland because she and her husband say they want the world to know “what’s going on in Ferguson.”

Lesley McSpadden, the 18-year-old’s mother, and his father, Michael Brown Sr., spoke to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, that also works against cruel or degrading treatment or punishment.

“We need the world to know what’s going on in Ferguson and we need justice,” McSpadden told CNN.

“We need answers and we need action. And we have to bring it to the U.N. so they can expose it to the rest of the world, what’s going on in small town Ferguson.”