Ferguson Protesters Are “Enemy Forces” — According to Missouri National Guard

A spokesman said the Guard used "generic military" terms, even though it lumped "General Protesters" in with KKK

Members of the Missouri National Guard. (Photo by The National Guard)

By Scott Eric Kaufman
According to documents obtained by CNN, the Missouri National Guard referred to those protesting the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson as “enemy forces” and “adversaries” — and this was before the protests turned contentious, lending credence to protesters’ claims that the police had adopted military tactics from the get-go.

Protesters complained that local law enforcement agencies — many of which were working in collaboration with the National Guard — fired tear gas into crowds of protesters and used armored vehicles to quell dissent. The documents obtained by CNN are evidence that, at least from the National Guard’s perspective, many in law enforcement were engaged in what they believed was a military operation.

The language used in the initial deployment emails could, as was stated in a later document also obtained by CNN, be “construed as potentially inflammatory,” so “all reference of ‘enemy’ were changed to state ‘criminal elements.’”

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