I N T E R N AT ION A LMONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2015

FERGUSON, Missouri: Hundreds of protesters ralliedin Ferguson, Missouri on Saturday to mark a year sincepolice killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown,whose death sparked unrest and a national debateabout race relations in America. Led by Brown’s family,a crowd marched along one of the avenues hit byfierce rioting last November when a court decided notto indict the white officer who shot the teenager.Marchers shouted slogans such as “Hands up, don’tshoot” and “We do this for who? We do this for MikeBrown” during a daytime rally with a children’s march-ing band bringing up the rear of the parade.

But protesters grew more confrontational later,when around 200 people gathered outside the policeheadquarters chanting: “Hey hey, ho ho, these killercops have got to go!” Several protesters jumped over abarricade around the building and faced off withpolice officers, although the crowd eventually dis-persed without violence. Demonstrators had earlierbarbequed a pig - onto which they had placed a policehat - and tried to give its cooked head to officers.

The shooting of 18-year-old Ferguson local Brownon Aug 9, 2014 sparked violent unrest and prompted abroader conversation about race in America, particu-larly police treatment of African-Americans.At the ear-lier march, which ended at Brown’s Normandy HighSchool, his father told reporters he was working hardat “keeping my son’s life still around” and doing “what-ever I can do to empower us as a people”. Asked whathas changed in America’s tortured race relations overthe past year, he said: “Nothing, for me. Some familiesgot justice through Michael Brown’s legacy, and thathelped them. But I’m still trying to get through.”

Today, protesters were to observe silence for 4.5minutes - reflecting the 4.5 hours Brown’s body layface down in the street after the shooting before it wastaken away. They will also stage a silent march to a

church and hold a religious service. The riots thaterupted in Ferguson spread to other US cities andenergized debate on how white police in Americatreat blacks, especially young black men and particu-larly when it comes to the use of lethal force.

A string of US police killings of black suspects sincethe shooting has triggered an outpouring of anger atperceived police racism and prompted calls for

change. In the latest such incident Friday, a Texaspolice officer fatally shot 19-year-old unarmed collegefootball player Christian Taylor after he drove his vehi-cle through the front of a car dealership. “As officersconfronted the suspect, there was an altercation dur-ing which at least one officer discharged his weapon,”the Arlington, Texas police department said in a state-ment. — AFP

Ferguson protests one year after Brown police shooting

Some confrontations, but rally peaceful

FERGUSON, Missouri: Demonstrators protest during a march on Saturday at the Ferguson Police Department. — AFP

BUENOS AIRES: Buenos Aires Governor and presiden-tial candidate for the ruling Front for Victory partyDaniel Scioli casts his vote with his wife Karina Raboliniduring primary elections yesterday. — AFP

Argentines vote in primary polls

BUENOS AIRES: Argentines voted yesterday in presidentialprimaries seen as an early indicator of who is best posi-tioned to succeed President Cristina Kirchner later this year.All 32 million eligible voters are required to cast ballots inone of an array of competing party primaries that willshape the political landscape ahead of the October 25presidential elections. The peculiarly Argentine process isless about parties picking candidates than showing whichcandidates can garner enough votes to becomeArgentina’s next leader.

Polls show three candidates leading a field of 15 hope-fuls: The ruling center-left party’s Daniel Scioli, conserva-tive Mauricio Macri and Sergio Massa, a dissident fromKirchner’s political movement. Scioli, the governor ofBuenos Aires province, is the only candidate for Kirchner’sFront for Victory (FPV). His two top competitors are facinglargely symbolic challenges within their own parties. Macri,the mayor of Buenos Aires, is nearly guaranteed to win thenomination for the Let’s Change coalition.

The third-place candidate, Massa - a center-right con-gressman - is likewise a virtual shoo-in for his coalition,United for a New Alternative (UNA). The real test will be tosee how many votes each contender gets, and whetherScioli, 58, has enough support to avoid a run-off. The latestopinion polls give Scioli around 35 percent of the vote.Macri has about 25 percent, while Massa has about 15 per-cent. But pundits speculate that Macri, 56, could win a run-off on Nov 22 by capturing Massa’s voters.

End of Kirchner Era No matter who wins or loses, the primaries mark the

beginning of the end of the 12-year Kirchner dynasty -eight under Cristina and four under her late husband,Nestor. Kirchner is entering the final stretch of her presi-dency with more than 50 percent support, despite a laun-dry list of woes in Latin America’s third-largest economythat includes a sliding currency and a messy legal battleover defaulted debt from the country’s 2001 economic cri-sis.

Barred from running again by term limits, the 62-year-old is not standing for any post. Argentine newspapersnoted the deep uncertainty about the future as the pollsopened. The economy has been alternating between stag-nation and weak growth. Unemployment is a manageable7.1 percent, but inflation is running at 20 percent.“Undoubtedly the markets’ biggest ‘friend’ is Macri, and thecandidate closest to the state is Scioli. But both agree onthe need for investment,” pollster Ricardo Rouvier told AFP.

The polls opened across the country at 8:00 am (1100GMT), with many areas battered by stormy weather. Theyclosed at 6:00 pm. First results are expected in the earlyhours of today. Voters will also be electing Argentine mem-bers of a regional parliamentary group, Parlasur, and candi-dates for gubernatorial and other local elected offices.Argentina introduced primaries in 2009 in a bid to makecandidate selection more democratic and revitalize a partysystem gutted by the cataclysmic fallout of the economiccrisis, when the country churned through five presidents intwo weeks.

But despite the new system, parties have largely contin-ued to pick their candidates as they always have: Throughopaque internal processes in which the general publicplays no part. The primaries are also designed to winnowout hopeless also-rans. Parties must attract at least 1.5 per-cent of primary voters to be eligible for the general elec-tion. — AFP

HOUSTON: Eight people - including five children and threeadults - were found dead inside a Houston-area home fol-lowing the arrest of a man who exchanged gunfire withpolice, Texas authorities said yesterday. Deputies werecalled to the home about 9 p.m. Saturday to perform a wel-fare check, Harris County Sheriff spokesman ThomasGilliland told KHOU-TV. Gilliland said deputies subsequent-ly received information indicating that a man inside thehome was wanted on a warrant for aggravated assault on afamily member.

Gilliland said while waiting for a High Risk OperationsUnit to arrive at the scene, deputies spotted the body of ajuvenile through a window. Four deputies then forced theirway into the home, prompting the 49-year-old male sus-pect inside to begin shooting. Deputies pulled back andwaited for the operations unit to arrive. The man surren-dered about an hour later. “At this time we have whatappears to be five children and three adults,” Gilliland said.“Ages and genders we do not have, and cause of death wedo not have. The medical examiner will have to determine acause of death.”

The relationship between the suspect and victims wasn’timmediately known. No further details were released.“Homicide detectives have taken over the operation alongwith our crime scene unit. Due to the amount of victims andthe proximity to the people in the house, it’ll be a scenethat’s going on for a while.” Alan Cartagena, 19, said he wasattending a barbecue at a home a couple houses away.About 11 pm, he said, deputies started going around theneighborhood knocking on doors. “Cops were walkingaround with their handguns out, telling people to remain intheir houses. They were also telling them to evacuate. It wasextremely scary,” he said. Cartagena said he heard one gun-shot but wasn’t sure if there were more. — AP

5 kids, 3 adults found dead in Houston home