Police protesters disrupt St. Louis MLK event

ST. LOUIS -- Protesters in St. Louis clashed with students at a historically black college Monday during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day interfaith service.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that two dozen protesters interrupted the event at Harris-Stowe State University, leading to angry confrontations with students outside a campus auditorium. Police kept watch on the dispute, but no arrests were immediately reported.

The protesters waved an upside-down American flag, took to the stage and used a microphone to criticize the university and participating clergy members. The demonstrators are seeking criminal justice reform after recent fatal police shootings nationwide.

The demonstrators left the stage and the building after an appeal for calm from Lesley McSpadden, whose 18-year-old son Michael Brown was shot to death by a Ferguson police officer in August.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com