Republican Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens warned protesters in St. Louis against violence and looting over the acquittal of a former police officer in the shooting death of a black man, saying that the "only safe space you're going to have is in a jail cell."
"We had leaders who wanted to give people a safe space to loot and to burn," Greitens told Fox News. "Now in Missouri, if you loot the only safe space you're going to have is in a jail cell."
Greitens said peaceful protesters would be protected, but any assault against police officers would result in arrests.
"If you're going to riot, we're going to cuff you," he said. "Violence and vandalism is not protest. It is a crime."
Former officer Jason Stockley was acquitted Friday of first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges for the 2011 killing after a high-speed chase of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. Protests over the verdict grew increasingly violent over the weekend, ABC reported:
But after a majority of the protesters left, a small group remained. They vandalized businesses and threw rocks, water bottles and garbage can lids at police officers, The Associated Press reported. A chair was thrown through the window of a Starbucks, and one protester was also spotted hitting a police SUV with a hammer, according to the Post-Dispatch.
"Officers are at Delmar & Skinker ordering all to disperse following multiple property damages in the Loop," police tweeted at 11:23 p.m.
The violence continued into the early morning, with the St. Louis County Police Department, tweeting, "UCity PD requested assistance Saturday after peaceful protest turned violent when debris was thrown at officers."
The St. Louis County Police Department tweeted that it arrested seven people, including five adults and 2 juveniles. Charges included resisting arrest, destruction of property and assaulting law enforcement officers.