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Ranchers.net

Read carefully, this has the "Al Jazeera" liberal slant to it.
Four white civilians carrying military-style rifles and sidearms walked a riot-torn street in Ferguson, Missouri, early Tuesday, saying they were there to protect a representative from an anti-government website, but their actions drew swift criticism from protesters in the mostly black neighborhood and from police who called their presence “unncessary and inflammatory.”

The appearance of the four men drew stares in the neighborhood, which was rocked by violence again Sunday night as protesters marked the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen whose death one year ago reignited a debate on race relations.

The men identified themselves as part of a group called “Oath Keepers,” which describes itself as an association of current and former U.S. soldiers and police who aim to protect the U.S. Constitution. The groups reports having about 35,000 members nationwide and says black Americans among its ranks.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit civil rights organization, has described the "Oath Keepers" as a “fiercely anti-government, militaristic group” that fears the government could potentially disregard the U.S. Constitution and take away the rights of citizens. However, SPLC does not consider Oath Keepers to be a hate group.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, meanwhile, condemned appearance of the group, which also showed up last year in Ferguson in the face of mass protests.

“Their presence was both unnecessary and inflammatory,” he said, adding that police would work with county prosecutors to see if the men had broken any laws.

Led by a man who gave his name only as John, the group, whose members wore bulletproof vests and carried sidearms in addition to combat-style rifles, said they had come to protect a journalist from the anti-government InfoWars website.

InfoWars, which SPLC characterizes as a "conspiracy-themed website," said on an online article that it did not hire the Oath Keepers.

“There were problems here. There were people who got hurt. We needed to be prepared for that,” said the man, who noted that Missouri state laws generally allow the open carrying of heavy weapons of the kind that his group had.

InfoWars could not be reached for immediate comment.

Meanwhile, police arrested nearly two dozen people in Ferguson during a protest that stretched into early Tuesday, although there was no repeat of the violence that marred weekend demonstrations.

There were no shots fired and no burglaries, looting or property damage during the protest along West Florissant Avenue, county police spokesman Shawn McGuire said. The St. Louis suburb thoroughfare was the focus of months of massive protests last summer after the killing of Brown by a white Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson.

But on Monday night, no smoke or tear gas was used, and no police or civilians reported injuries, McGuire said in a statement. By 1 a.m., the crowd and police were heading home. McGuire said approximately 23 arrests were made, though police were still confirming official totals.

On late Sunday, however, a protest in the same area was interrupted by gunfire and a police shooting that left an 18-year-old suspect critically injured.

The violence set Ferguson on edge and had protest leaders worried that tensions could escalate. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency that authorized the county police chief, Belmar, to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.
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