MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - SWAT team forces in riot gear confronted protesters gathered in Ferguson, Missouri for a fifth night of demonstrations over the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.
Tensions began to rise as a large police SWAT team came on the scene around 4:00 pm local time on Wednesday, ordering demonstrators to disperse, The Huffington Post reported.
At 7:00 pm local time the police told the crowd, which had ignored the order to disperse, that they were "no longer a peaceful protest" and began to fire tear gas and rubber bullets. Officers pushed forward using a siren, and the protestors finally began to flee the scene. The LA Times reported some demonstrators fought back by throwing Molotov cocktails and other objects at the officers.
The protests are in response to a Saturday incident in which a white police officer fatally wounded unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb.
Local officials are attempting to ease tensions in Ferguson, assuring the city of 21,000 that the investigation into the death of Brown will be both transparent and unbiased. Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson and other city officials gather in a town-hall style meeting on the situation Tuesday night.
