Last night at the end of the Cardinals game as the home team was trying to rally back in the bottom of the 9th inning, during David Freese's at-bat, a helicopter appeared in the sky circling to the north of the Busch Stadium. It was shining a spotlight down at the ground. Eventually, it turned off the spotlight but kept circling. After the game, by the 8th and Pine Metrolink station there were lots of of police cars and crime lab vans along with a police dog.
Now we know why... It turns out Occupiers had vandalized two banks with graffiti, assaulted a banker who tried to stop them, and then assaulted two police officers.
They were protesting against police violence. KMOV reported:
A group of protesters were arrested in downtown St. Louis late Thursday night after they reportedly spray-painted slogans on a bank building and fought with police officers.
Police said the clash happened in the area of 10th and Olive streets about the same time the Cardinals game let out. Authorities said the protesters were marching downtown when they stopped to spray paint graffiti on the outside of the Fifth Third Bank. Two blocks away, at 826 Olive, they also vandalized The People's National Bank.
A police official said the property manager at the Fifth Third Bank came out to stop the protesters, but he was assaulted by the vandals. By the time police arrived, the protesters had sprayed various slurs and slogans on the outside of the bank buildings.
Some of the phrases were profain. When a News 4 crew arrived on the scene, officers had eight to 10 people in plastic cuffs sitting on the roadside. The protesters said they were demonstrating against police violence...
...One officer was injured during the clash. That officer was taken to an area hospital to be treated for a hand injury.
The “Occupy” protest left two banks vandalized and an officer injured.
