A few dozen people began protesting on Sunday to show solidarity with Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo. police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown, and were selling pro-Wilson T-shirts, The Huffington Post reported.
Following the fatal shooting on Aug. 9, there have been protests almost every night in Ferguson. The counterprotesters said they wanted the entire country to know that not everyone supported the Ferguson protests, and wanted the officer and his family to know there were people who supported them.
For a $7 donation, attendees could buy pro-Wilson T-shirts, and all 55 sold out quickly. On the back of shirts it says "we've got your six," meaning whoever wears the shirt has Wilson's back. Word of the Wilson demonstration spread through Facebook, and attendees were overwhelmingly white.
The Wilson supporters said they were worried about the officer's family and hardly any had sympathy for individuals who say there are problems with police professionalism in Ferguson.
"If you do what the police tell you do - if you're not doing anything wrong, and the cops ask you to do something, then you're not going to have nothing to worry about," Michael Bates told The Huffington Post.
Police and relatives of police officers said the media's coverage of events in the St. Louis suburb has been biased. They carried signs that said "we love and support Darren," and "Pray for peace in Ferguson," according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Martin Baker, a 2014 candidate who was unsuccessful in the Republican primary for the Congressional district that includes north St. Louis County, was in attendance. His former campaign manager, Becky Noble, said she was at the rally to support a friend, who is a police officer, and all of law enforcement.
"The level of hatred and disrespect I've seen for law enforcement just in this last week is disgusting. It's truly disturbing," she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
