FERGUSON, MISSOURI // US police were in a tense standoff with protesters in Ferguson for a second night, as St Louis County declared a state of emergency and a teenager was charged with shooting at police officers.
Angry demonstrators beat drums and chanted as bottles and rocks were thrown, while police used pepper spray as they arrested numerous demonstrators during the protests, which continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“Officers are being hit with rocks and bottles. We continue to support free speech, but agitators who ignore orders to disperse risk arrest,” tweeted the St Louis County police department.
The protests came after unrest and a shooting incident in Ferguson on Sunday night on the anniversary of the fatal police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown that led county officials to declare a state of emergency the following day.
St Louis County executive Steve Stenger said county police would immediately take charge of “police emergency management” in Ferguson and surrounding districts.
“In light of last night’s violence and unrest in the city of Ferguson, and the potential for harm to persons and property, I am exercising my authority as county executive to issue a state of emergency, effective immediately,” he said in a statement.
His statement was issued as an 18-year-old was charged in connection with the shoot-out on Sunday following a day of mostly peaceful protests marking the anniversary of Brown’s shooting.
Brown’s death sparked a nationwide wave of outrage and protest at police treatment of African-Americans.
Tyrone Harris is accused of first-degree assault on police officers, armed criminal action and shooting at a motor vehicle, police said.
Harris, from Northwoods, another area of St Louis County, remained in the hospital Monday with wounds sustained in the shoot-out.
In St. Louis city centre, more than 50 protesters were arrested after climbing the barricade around a federal courthouse during a midday demonstration, local news media reported.
Media reports late Monday said protesters had blocked Interstate 70, just outside Ferguson.
Demonstrators were also arrested elsewhere in town, including scholar and activist Cornel West, Complex magazine reported.
After midnight a crowd of about 100 protesters remained on the streets of Ferguson sometimes squaring off with police. Hours later the tension had subsided.
* Agence France-Presse