The Latest on Ferguson: Nearly 2 dozen arrests at protest

And Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly had to defend himself to the police who mistook him for a protester. According to reports, the Oath Keepers said they were on the scene to provide voluntary protection to a journalist working for the site InfoWars, the conspiracy mill run by noted lunatic Alex Jones.

“They are doing the same old stuff, taking our rights”, Lynch said.

The protests came after police exchanged gunfire with an alleged gunman on Sunday night. McGuire also said the protesters were throwing rocks and frozen water bottles at officers, but no one, officer or civilian, were hurt.

For the first time in three consecutive nights of demonstrations, some officers were dressed in riot gear, including bullet-proof vests and helmets with shields.

The Rev. Rob White of Clergy United tried to calm an angry crowd that surrounded a man objecting to an upside-down American flag. It was unclear who was flying the drones.

Ferguson Interim Police Chief Andre Anderson, right, tries to calm the crowd after a shooting near a protest in Ferguson, Mo., Monday, August 10, 2015. By early morning, most people had vacated areas where confrontations had occurred and police reopened streets to traffic.

In St. Louis city center, more than 50 protesters were arrested after climbing the barricade around a federal courthouse during a midday demonstration, local news media reported. Stenger added that under the executive order, Chief Belmar will be in charge of police operations in Ferguson and the surrounding areas.

“They’re not going to take the street tonight”. Both had attended Normandy High School in St. Louis.

Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) agreed that the demonstrators marking Brown’s death were mostly peaceful except for “outliers” who engaged in gunfire. At one point a gunman darted across a parking lot and was confronted by four officers who pulled up in an unmarked vehicle.

“Not only does violence obscure any message of peaceful protest, it places the community, as well as the officers who seek to protect it, in harm’s way”, she said. Louis County prosecutor’s office charged Tyrone Harris, an 18-year-old from St. Louis, on 10 counts related to the alleged shootout late Sunday. He is being held on $100,000 bond.

Harris’ father disputed the police account Monday but declined to discuss his son’s shooting Tuesday.

According to St. Louis city court records, a man with the same name, birth date and address as Harris is out on bail awaiting trial on charges of stealing a motor vehicle, theft of a firearm and resisting arrest.

“My son was running to the police to ask for help, and he was shot”, he said.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon called Sunday’s violence “a sad turn of events”. The assault rifles raised alarm with protesters, but the group of men claimed to be there simply to “keep the peace”, which is one of the main goals outlined on their website.

Moments after the shots were fired, a young woman screamed, “They shot my brother”. Protester Rnesha Baldwin, 32, said the evening’s tension and arrests resulted from police inability to control their emotions.