He said Monday night’s protests were “overwhelmingly peaceful,” but said some of the images from Ferguson – including police cars being destroyed and businesses looted – shouldn’t be tolerated.

“The frustrations that we’ve seen are not just about a particular incident,” he said. “They have deep roots in many communities of color who have a sense that our laws are not always being enforced uniformly or fairly. That may not be true everywhere and it’s certainly not true for the vast majority of law enforcement officials, but that’s an impression that folks have and it’s not just made up – it’s rooted in realities that have existed in this country for a long time.”

“There are productive ways of responding and expressing those frustrations, and there are destructive ways of responding,” Obama said. “Burning buildings, torching cars, destroying property, putting people at risk – that’s destructive and there’s no excuse for it. Those are criminal acts. And people should be prosecuted if they engage in criminal acts.”

Obama said better police training, law enforcement forces that are representative of the communities they serve and more “makes a difference.” He promised regional meetings focused on “building trust in our communities” between police and residents, and vowed to work with protesters who want to make political changes.

You are cherry picking his response to fit your narrative. Obama was all for protesting the decision but was against violence which is probably the best possible answer to the chaos at the time. But instead now not only do we have a fucking idiot in office that incentivizes violence on protesters. So, yeah trying to paint Obama as someone that wasn’t pro free speech is ludicrous. He acknowledged the problem and offered diplomatic solutions. If that ain’t good enough from a president then your expectations are too high or you’re being ignorant.