Shooting, protests put Ferguson back on edge

FERGUSON, Mo. -- Ferguson was a community on edge again Monday, a day after a protest marking the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was punctuated with gunshots and police critically wounded a black 18-year-old accused of opening fire on officers.

Police, protesters and people who live and work in the St. Louis suburb were bracing for what nightfall might bring after more violence along West Florissant Avenue, the same thoroughfare that was the site of protests after Brown was shot to death last year in a confrontation with a Ferguson officer.

"Of course I'm worried," said Sandy Sansevere, a retired health-care worker who volunteers at the retail store operated by the not-for-profit group I Love Ferguson, formed after Brown's death, to promote the community. "What scares me are the guns."

Michael Brown was a black 18-year-old who was killed by a white Ferguson police officer, touching off a national debate over police treatment of minorities and sparked the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger declared a state of emergency, which authorizes county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.

Protests spilled outside of Ferguson. Almost 60 protesters were arrested midday Monday for blocking the entrance to the federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis. Authorities planned to release them on a promise to appear later in court.

Protesters later briefly blocked Interstate 70 during the late afternoon rush hour, with an additional undetermined number of arrests made. Among those arrested at the courthouse was scholar and civil-rights activist Cornel West.

Police made nine arrests after protesters blocked a traffic lane on West Florissant Avenue.

Officers with bullhorns directed protesters to clear the roadway, and others in riot gear forced people out of the street. Some demonstrators threw water bottles and other debris at officers.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said: "They're not going to take the street tonight. That's not going to happen."

Several people were handcuffed and put into vans.

"What did I do?" one woman asked repeatedly.

As officers were clearing the road, one officer fired pepper spray into a crowd of people, hitting an AP videojournalist. It wasn't clear how many others were hit or why the pepper spray was used.