Missouri protesters trained for 'Moral Monday'

FERGUSON, Mo., Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Protesters in Ferguson, Mo., and nearby St. Louis said they spent Sunday preparing for acts of civil disobedience dubbed "Moral Monday."

Protest leaders said they spent Sunday training demonstrators for acts of civil disobedience at unspecified locations in Ferguson and St. Louis to protest the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.

"We want to make sure we have people trained to stop business as usual," Celeste Faison, 30, told USA Today. "We are saying that until we have justice for Mike Brown, until we have systemic change and the elimination of oppressive systems, we are going to stop business as usual. Folks will no longer be comfortable and maintaining the status quo."

Faison said she spent Sunday at Lafayette Park United Methodist Church in St. Louis teaching protesters how to stage acts of civil disobedience and how to handle being arrested. She said non-violence is being stressed among the protesters.

"It's important to us not to make our strategy public because we want to make sure people are uncomfortable, and one of the things that makes people the most uncomfortable is the element of surprise," Faison said. "We don't want to set ourselves up for failure by going to an action and the police are already there."

Monday marks the final day of "Ferguson October," a four-day series of rallies, marches and public discussions about social activism related to the Brown case.