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<p class="date">Thu Aug 21, 2014 at 09:59 AM PDT</p>
<h2><a id="titleHref"
href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/21/1323489/-Police-raid-Ferguson-church-for-third-time-Platoon-of-cops-claim-people-illegally-sleeping-there">Police
raid Ferguson church for third time. Platoon of cops claim
people illegally sleeping there </a><span style="white-space:
nowrap"></span></h2>
<p class="author"><span>by</span> <a
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<b><small><small><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/21/1323489/-Police-raid-Ferguson-church-for-third-time-Platoon-of-cops-claim-people-illegally-sleeping-there?detail=facebook#">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/21/1323489/-Police-raid-Ferguson-church-for-third-time-Platoon-of-cops-claim-people-illegally-sleeping-there?detail=facebook#</a></small></small></small></small></small></b><br>
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<div class="dkimg-c"><br>
<div class="dkimg-cap">Greater St. Mark's Church has seen a lot
of cops lately and they haven't come by to pray.</div>
</div>
For the third time since the police slaying of Michael Brown in
Ferguson, Missouri, St. Louis County police raided the Greater St.
Mark Church property Wednesday. Church leaders have allowed
community activists to use the gymnasium of an abandoned private
school on church property as a first aid station for treatment of
people injured by tear gas in protests against the shooting of
Brown. People could also get food and water there, and community
activists used it to plan protest strategy.
<p>But all that apparently made it a special target for the cops
whom one would think have enough on their plates in Ferguson not
to be harassing a humanitarian operation.<br>
</p>
Police claimed that people had been sleeping in the gym, something
not allowed under city zoning and a violation of occupancy rules.
According to eyewitnesses, more than 20 officers showed up to
search the building just before noon Wednesday. Probably the first
time in the city's history a platoon of cops has been sent to
check out an alleged occupancy code violation. This time they
didn't come armed with assault weapons as witnesses said has been
the case in previous raids. Nor did they take away any supplies,
something that observers say happened in Tuesday's raid.
<p>A church volunteer, Marcel Williams, <a
href="http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Ferguson-church-helping-volunteers-is-closely-watched-by-police-272055391.html">spoke
with a local television reporter</a> about Wednesday's raid:<br>
</p>
<blockquote>“They looked like they were looking for someone in
particular, just because of the depth of the search they were
doing. No guns were drawn at the time or anything of that
nature, but it was an intensive search,” said Williams. [...]
<p>The church officials told News 4 nobody has been staying in
the building overnight.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That wasn't the police version. In a <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/20/church-police-ferguson_n_5695732.html">statement</a>
issued Wednesday night, the St. Louis County Police Department
said that when police searched the building: "It appeared that
five to seven people [had been] sleeping in the facility but no
one was present. [...] The representative stated that he would
advise the individuals to leave." The statement also said there
was no animosity displayed between the cops and the church
representative.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://instagram.com/p/r7f83rj9Gk">video</a>
made after the police raid on Tuesday, Philip Agnew of the
advocacy group Dream Defenders said:<br>
</p>
<blockquote>"But in no uncertain terms, this was a place where
this community deemed, a place where we could come and
feel—what? Safe. And what they did today was tell us what? There
is no safety here."</blockquote>
It's unclear whether the protester in this <a
href="http://instagram.com/p/r7feCuD9Fr">video</a> is correct in
saying the police have "effectively" shut down the operation. A
woman who answered the phone at the church Thursday morning told
Daily Kos that she did not know whether the safe haven is still
open and referred me to St. Mark's pastor, who had not returned
the call by the time this was posted. </div>
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