Thousands Expected for Monday's Funeral of Slain Ferguson Teen | WPN World People News

Thousands of people are expected to attend funeral services Monday in St. Louis for Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by a white police officer earlier this month.

People gather on Aug. 24, 2014, at the site where unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown was recently shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Eighteen-year-old Brown was fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson in a confrontation on August 9 in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.

Monday's funeral will be under heavy police surveillance to guard against renewed violence. Ferguson has been mostly calm in recent days following nearly two weeks of unrest.

A number of national civil rights leaders are expected at the service, including the Reverend Al Sharpton, who will deliver a eulogy.

Three White House officials will be in attendance, including Broderick Johnson, head of the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force, and Marlon Marshall and Heather Foster from the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Accounts of the August 9 shooting differ. Police allege Brown was the aggressor during a struggle with Wilson, but witnesses say the shooting was unprovoked and that Brown was trying to surrender.

More than 150 people have been arrested in Ferguson since the protests began - most of them for failing to disperse at the request of police.

Many have complained that the police response to the protests has been heavy-handed, while the shooting itself has raised allegations of institutionalized racism and excessive use of force.

The incident has highlighted the racial divide in the mostly black town of Ferguson, where almost all police and local politicians are white.

Source: Voice of America