President Obama speaks to Ferguson: 'Keep protests peaceful.'

President Obama speaks to Ferguson: &#039;Keep protests peaceful.&#039;

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Echoing the calls for peace made by Michael Brown's family, President Barack Obama sent his own message to the people of Ferguson, Missouri, ahead of a grand jury's decision on the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

"I think first and foremost, keep protests peaceful," Obama said in an interview with ABC News, which will air on Sunday. "This is a country that allows everybody to express their views, allows them to peacefully assemble, to protest actions that they think are unjust. But using any event as an excuse for violence is contrary to the rule of law, contrary to who we are."

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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.