Police deploy tear gas to impose Ferguson curfew

People defy a curfew on August 17 before smoke and tear gas were fired by police to disperse a crowd protesting the shooting of teenager Michael Brown last Saturday in Ferguson, Mo. AP

FERGUSON, UNITED STATES // The first night of a state-imposed curfew ended with tear gas and seven arrests in Ferguson, a St Louis suburb where a black, unarmed teen had been shot by a white police officer a week earlier.

Police in riot gear used armored vehicles to disperse defiant protesters who refused to leave.

Missouri state police Captain Ron Johnson said protesters were not the reason for the escalated police reaction just after the midnight curfew took effect. He said the response was to a report of people who had broken into a barbecue restaurant and a man who flashed a handgun in the street as armored vehicles approached the crowd of protesters.

Also overnight, a man was shot and critically wounded in the same area, but not by police; authorities were searching for the shooter. Someone also shot at a police car, officials said.

The protests have been going on since 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed on August 9 by a white Ferguson policeman, Darren Wilson. The death heightened racial tensions between the predominantly black community and mostly white Ferguson Police Department, leading to several run-ins between police and protesters and prompting Missouri’s governor to put state police in charge of security.

The Ferguson police department waited six days to publicly reveal the name of the officer and documents alleging Brown robbed a convenience store before he was killed, though Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson said Mr Wilson did not know Brown was a suspect when he encountered him walking in the street with a friend.

The governor, Jay Nixon, declared a state of emergency in Ferguson on Saturday after protests turned violent the night before. In announcing the curfew, Mr Nixon said that though many protesters were making themselves heard peacefully, the state would not allow looters to endanger the community.

“I am committed to making sure the forces of peace and justice prevail,” Mr Nixon said during a news conference that was interrupted repeatedly by people objecting to the curfew and demanding that Mr Wilson be charged with murder. “We must first have and maintain peace. This is a test. The eyes of the world are watching.”

It was unclear how many days curfew will be in effect. State law gives the governor broad powers when he declares a state of emergency, but he hasn’t indicated that he plans to do anything other than impose the curfew and empower the state police to enforce it.

Mr Nixon said the justice department is beefing up its civil rights investigation of the shooting.

Capt Johnson, who is in charge of security in Ferguson, said 40 FBI agents were going door-to-door in the neighbourhood, talking to people who might have seen or have information about the shooting.

* Associated Press