President Barack Obama announced Monday that Attorney General Eric Holder will be traveling to Ferguson, Missouri this week, a community torn by racial tension after a police shooting.
"The attorney general himself will be traveling to Ferguson on Wednesday to meet with the FBI agents and DOJ personnel conducting the criminal investigation and he will receive an update from them on their progress. He will also be meeting with other leaders in the community," Obama said during a Monday press conference.
A law enforcement officer on a tactical vehicle watches after a device was fired to disperse a crowd Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014, during a protest for Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer last Saturday in Ferguson, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Obama called again for restraint from both protesters and police to “seek some understanding, rather than simply holler at each other.”
"It is clear that the vast majority of people are peacefully protesting, what is also clear is a small minority of individuals are not," Obama said. "Giving into that anger by looting, carrying guns, or even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir up chaos. It undermines rather than advancing justice."
"Let me also be clear that our constitutional rights to speak freely, assemble, and to her wart in the press must be vigilantly safeguarded — and to report in the press must be vigilantly safeguarded. Ours is a nation of laws. The citizens who live under them and for them — for the citizens who live under them and for those who enforce them," Obama said.
Obama returned from his vacation in Martha's Vineyard to meet with administration officials before delivering remarks, and addressed the unrest in Missouri resulting from a police shooting.
The city of Ferguson, Missouri has seen racial tension for the last two weeks after a white policy officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American.
He said that he urged caution to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who called up the National Guard in the state.
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