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New surveillance footage of Michael Brown sparks protests

A group of people gathered outside the Ferguson Market and Liquor Store Sunday night after new surveillance video of Michael Brown was released. The footage of ...
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A group of people gathered outside the Ferguson Market and Liquor Store Sunday night after new surveillance video of Michael Brown was released.

The footage of Brown, the unarmed black teenager shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, was included in a documentary called “Stranger Fruit” which debuted at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, Saturday evening.

The previously-unreleased surveillance video shows Brown inside the convenience store eleven hours before he was accused of robbing it.

CNN cannot independently confirm the video’s authenticity.

The video, filmmaker Jason Pollock argues, suggests that Brown didn’t rob the store but was instead involved in a drug deal with the clerks. The robbery allegation is what led to the confrontation between police and Brown, which resulted in Brown being killed by Officer Darren Wilson.

In the video, Brown, 18, appears to give the clerks a small bag. The clerks then give Brown a bag with cigarillos, which he takes, but he then turns around and gives it back to them before leaving.

The film suggests Brown did not return later that day to rob the store but rather to get the bag back.

The St. Louis County Police told CNN regarding the video that they “cannot confirm its authenticity at this time.”

“If it did occur, the incident is still irrelevant to our investigation because our department investigated the encounter between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson,” St. Louis County Police told CNN.

CNN has attempted to contact Pollock as well as the Ferguson Police Department. Neither has responded.

It’s not known how many people were present at the protest outside the store Sunday night, or how many were arrested. The Ferguson Police Department has not responded to request for comment.

Attorney Jay Kanzler, who represents the Ferguson Market and Liquor store and its employees, told CNN that the version of events in the documentary is false and that it has been edited to leave out a part where the clerk throws the bag back to Brown.

“My clients did nothing wrong,” Kanzler said. “They love the people of Ferguson and truly want to get on with their lives.”

Kanzler was present at the market during the protests Sunday night. Video from the scene shows him speaking to people as protesters shout at him.

He told CNN’s Sara Sidner that the full surveillance video will be released on Monday.

Kanzler claims the the soon-to-be-released video will refute the filmmaker’s “edited version of events.”

He adds that the video is “not new” and that the full video was handed over to police, the FBI and also the Brown family “very early on.”

Protests erupted across the country after Brown’s death.

Many were upset with the Ferguson Police Department’s decision to release the original surveillance video of the altercation at the store because they felt appeared to justify police use of force.

The original Ferguson Police report does not mention Brown’s overnight visit or that there is any additional video beyond what was released.

Wilson, who resigned from the Ferguson Police Department, claimed he was assaulted by Brown and that he feared for his life.

Both a grand jury and in a federal civil rights investigation declined to indict Wilson.

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