Protesters defy curfew in Ferguson after Mike Brown shooting

US police confronted protesters overnight as they enforced a curfew following the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

They cleared the streets of demonstrators during a tense stand-off, moving slowly down the street where dozens of demonstrators remained after the curfew took effect at midnight local time.

A state of emergency was declared on Saturday by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, who also announced a curfew to go into effect between midnight and 5am local time.

The curfew follows a week of racially charged protests and looting over the shooting on 9 August of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Tensions were running high all week but escalated on Friday evening, when mostly black protesters were pitted against mostly white police as demonstrators swarmed through a residential and retail district that has become a centre of the unrest. Some in the crowd looted a handful of stores that night.

Tense stand-off

Early on Sunday morning, officers stood among armoured vehicles equipped with gas masks and full-length shields, and began firing cannisters toward the crowd.

A police spokesman said the cannisters dispersed smoke, not teargas, but St Louis alderman Antonio French, who was in the area, told reporters the substance fired towards demonstrators caused stinging of the eyes.

About 150 people remained in the street past the curfew deadline after midnight on Sunday, police said.

Some protesters still in the street, under a downpour of rain, were chanting, “no justice, no curfew, no peace”, while others implored the crowd not to move forward towards police.

Witnesses at the scene said they heard gunshots during the confrontation between police and demonstrators after the curfew began, although there was no confirmation of whether any shots were fired.

American network CNN showed video of some protesters being loaded into vehicles, but a Highway Patrol spokesman said he could not confirm any arrests.

Protester Phonso Scott, 24, said the curfew “is going to make things worse”.

“I think the cops are going to get violent tonight, but they can’t lock us all up,” he said.

Conflicting accounts

Mr Brown’s family and supporters have demanded for days that the officer who shot Brown be held accountable.

The US Department of Justice is investigating the shooting for any civil rights violations, and the St. Louis County Police department has also launched a probe.

The police version of how Mr Brown was shot differs from witness accounts, including that of the friend who was walking with Brown at the time, Dorian Johnson, 22.

Mr Johnson and at least one other witness have said the officer reached out through his car window to grab at Mr Brown. He held up his hands in a sign of surrender but the officer got out of his patrol car and shot Brown several times, they said.

In the police version, after the officer asked Mr Brown to move out of the road onto a sidewalk, Mr Brown reached into the patrol car and struggled with the officer for his service gun. The police officer Mr Wilson then shot Brown a number of times.