DC Protests as grand jury refuses to indict killer cop in Ferguson

Nov 23 9:30PM: Ferguson grand jury announces NO INDICTMENT, DC protesters will gather at 7PM TUESDAY, Nov 25 at 7PM. Spontanious protests assembling tonight at Howard U and at Civil War Memorial (U st). Lots of cops on U st.
Update 10:30PM: Multiple spontanious protests in DC Converging on White House, protest the following evening (Tuesday) still schedules as well.
Update 11:40PM: John Zangas reports 2,000 people at the spontanious White House protest
Update 11:40PM: Ferguson exploding, one cop firing in the air suspected of triggering all the violence. Cop cars and at least one building on fire.
Update 1AM 11-25:Marchers take Supreme Court steps

Earlier reports from Nov 24:

Monday, Nov 24 2:12PM: Both CNN and the Washington Post are reporting that the grand jury in Ferguson has reached a decision-but NOT the nature of that decision.
Update 11-24 3:37PM: Formal anouncement expected 5PM, might not include nature of decision. Due to earlier statements that an indictment would be announced immediately, that might indicate NO indictment but that's just a guess right now. The authorities are doing everything they can to interfere with protests if Darren Wilson is not indicted!

Update 5:30PM:Grand jury decision set to be announced at 7M Ferguson time, 8PM DC time.

Prior reports from Nov 23 and earlier:

Code Pink sponsored a legal training in NE DC on Saturday, November 22. There are multiple leaked reports that PRIOR to Friday's premature announcement all DC cops were put on alert for both Sunday and Monday, with the riot squad also being mobilized.

I cannot recall this kind of police mobilization against protesters here in DC since the early days of IMF/World Bank protests. Even the assault on Occupy DC's campsite in February 2012 was not a department-wide event, involving no more than a few hundred cops.

All of the DC Ferguson protests have been peaceful, and though they blocked many streets a wholesale police mobilization in response to a protest will be far more disruptive in terms of street closures, etc than any protest march ever could be. If the police want to behave in a violent and aggressive manner towards protesters the situation then becomes controlled by the most aggressive people, the least restrained people on either side.

Also, if the DC police decide break with their established precedent here and instead behave as Ferguson cops have in protests there, they would expose themselves to millions of dollars in legal judgements under the Becker and Pershing Park precedents. Such an incident in response to a peaceful Ferguson protest would also bring a national civil rights spotlight against the DC Police, who so far have been able to avoid "getting a piece of Ferguson" even though they too are shooting and killing young African-American men. I have personally seen police set checkpoints in neighborhoods and engage in illegal Stop and Frisk activity in some neighborhoods.

Back in St Louis there is a lot of hype going around right now. There are reports that gun stores are refusing to sell weapons to African-Americans while selling weapons at many times the normal rate to white residents. Meanwhile two members of the New Black Panther party are being prosecuted for buying guns for others. On top of all else some news outlets are falsely accusing these two men of buying explosives! They are charged only with buying otherwise legal guns to transfer to others, possibly to folks fearful of all the newly-armed white vigilantes in town.

Here's the previous timeline since Friday's claim of an impending decision:

Nov 21, evening:Late evening 21st of November, multiple separate sources reported over Twitter that the grand jury investigating police officer Darren Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown has reached a decision. The reports indicated that the decision would not be announced until Sunday. The next day, new reports claimed the grand jury had NOT reached a decision.
Update 11-22-1:30PM:There are now claims from CNN that the grand jury did not reach a decision Friday, but on the other hand the St. Louis County Justice Center is being barricaded, the schools there are closed all next week, here in DC riot cops are on full alert, and at 7PM Central Time Friday the mainstream media was given a 48 hour alert to expect an announcement. That would be 8PM Sunday DC time if today's CNN report is false. Some are claiming that lies are being circulated to the mainstream media to reduce the impact of the coming announcement.

Update 11-22-1:41PM: the Grand Jury has definately reached a decision, may have decided as long ago as Thursday, thus the school closures and police alerts. Strategic considerations governing the decision to sit on the decision until Sunday, possibly Sunday morning.

Update 11-22-2:45PM: Fox News is claiming the decision will be announced Sunday, while CNN claiming "unconfirmed" that the grand jury went home without reaching a decision.

Update 11-22-3:54PM NBC, CNN now claiming NO decision yet, grand jury to reconvene Monday. There are now jokes circulating that the mainsteam media "will riot" over this. Could such "jokes" be a way to prepare the ground for more arrests and beatings of photographers?

Update Sun, 11-23-1:41PM:CBS News reports "final preparations" in Ferguson, yet decision to be announced "not before Monday." Some reports say the grand jury will then reconvene, buth whether to continue debating this case, make an announcement, or simply move on to other cases is not specified. It is also reported that prosecutors are refusing to release the evidence presented to the grand jury. Those of us familiar with grand juries from the Green Scare will not be surprised by this sort of thing.

Nov 23 3PM:Grand Jury to reconvene Monday,unknown if for anouncement or further deliberations.