"News of their arrest quickly began spreading on social media, and the Ferguson police chief was alerted to their arrests by a reporter for the Los Angeles Times."
There are plenty of good people trying to manage a bunch of people who are out of control. People like to find fault with those trying to manage a war zone in the heat of battle rather than focusing on those who are causing the problem in the first place.
The local police seem pretty incompetent here: Bringing in tanks, aiming assault rifles at unarmed protesters, and an injudicious use of tear gas and rubber bullets.
They're treating civilian protesters like enemy soldiers.