Louis County extends ‘State of Emergency’ for at least one more day

Police surround and arrest protesters on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, the United States, on August 10, 2015.

The protest began near Chicago police headquarters Tuesday.

Police and protesters clashed intermittently during demonstrations Monday night. Schellman says there were no similar incidents Tuesday.

At one point, about 20 protesters blocked West Florissant Avenue and forced a city bus to turn around. Another vigil was also held on the Northside in Uptown, where a smaller group of demonstrators projected the words “Disarm The Police” in lights on a building. They waited outside until the men were released later that night.

St. Louis County officials extended a state of emergency Wednesday as police hoped that tensions would continue to calm down in Ferguson, Mo., following a sudden spate of violence. The gathering was quiet, as people mingled along the side of the road.

The protesters chanted, beat drums and carried signs.

When some in the group moved into a traffic lane, police officers in riot gear forced people out of the street.

St. Louis County spokesman Cordell Whitlock said the county had no comment on the timing of the charges or why they decided to pursue them, saying they were “all pending legal matters”.

Police shot and critically wounded an 18-year-old black teen they said had fired at them during Sunday night’s protests, when windows of businesses along the commercial stretch were smashed.

Tyrone Harris, 18, was shot by police and is in critical condition. County police and Barnes-Jewish Hospital couldn’t provide updates on his condition Tuesday.

‘He was running for his… life because someone was shooting at him, ‘ Tyrone Harris, Sr. said in a telephone interview from his St. Louis-area home before the video was released.

Joh Belmar, the St. Louis County Police Chief, openly stated that the presence of Oath Keepers with camouflage bulletproof vests with rifles and pistols on West Florissant Avenue was highly unnecessary.

Tuesday was the fifth consecutive night of protests marking the anniversary of 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death in the St. Louis suburb.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights organisation, has described the “Oath Keepers” as a “fiercely anti-government, militaristic group”.

Belmar plans to ask county prosecutor Bob McCulloch about the legality of the group’s armed patrols. Police say the video shows Harris initially backing away, then drawing a 9 mm handgun, reported stolen last year, from his waistband and running across the parking lot.

Officers made four arrests that night which saw three officers injured and three police cars destroyed. By 1am, the crowd and police were heading home.