Police in riot gear ordered dozens of lingering demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, to disperse late on Tuesday (August 19) and charged into the crowd to make arrests as relative calm dissolved amid protests over the police shooting death of an unarmed black teen in the St. Louis suburb.
Street protests in the predominantly African-American community of 21,000 people have been punctuated by looting, vandalism and clashes between demonstrators and police every night since 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer.
A grand jury was expected to begin a criminal inquiry into shooting on Wednesday.
Two dozen police in military-style uniforms took positions across the street from a burned-out gas station where protesters on Monday threw at least one gasoline bomb.
The aftermath of the Brown shooting was due to take a new turn on Wednesday, when the St. Louis County prosecutor's office said it expected to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury
