BULLY PULPIT

Obama to Ferguson: Stay Calm

Asks both police and protesters.

President Obama addressed the nation barely an hour after a grand jury’s decision to bring no charges against Officer Darren Wilson in the August killing of Michael Brown. The president urged people upset by the decision to protest peacefully and asked law enforcement to use “care and restraint” going forward. “We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we have to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make,” Obama said, adding, “I join Michael’s parents in asking that anyone who protests this decision to do so peacefully.” In Ferguson, protesters almost immediately began to attack police after the decision, throwing objects and smashing one squad car. Police struck back with tear gas.