Protests return to Ferguson streets, state of emergency declared

St. Louis County Police and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers (C) stand guard as protesters (foreground) march on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2015. AFP Photo

Police in riot gear contained roughly 200 protesters who had gathered in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri on August 10 to mark the anniversary of the police shooting of an unarmed black teen whose death ignited a national firestorm on race relations.

The demonstrators, some waving flags, beating drums, and shouting anti-police slogans, marched along a street that was a flashpoint of last year's riots which erupted after white police officer Darren Wilson shot dead 18-year-old black teen Michael Brown. 

Nine people were arrested late on August 10 after a group of protesters briefly blocked the roadway, though demonstrations late into the evening were largely peaceful. 

Authorities had declared a state of emergency on August 10 for the St. Louis suburb and surrounding areas after police officers shot and critically wounded a man in an exchange of gunfire on August 9 night, marring what had been a day of peaceful demonstrations. 

Among the demonstrators on August 10 evening was 51-year-old Ferguson resident Roberta Lynch, who said relations between the police and community had improved little over the past year. 

"They are doing the same old stuff, taking our rights," Lynch said. "They need to give us our space." 

August 10 demonstrations capped a day of civil disobedience called by activists to protest the shooting of Brown and other unarmed black men across the United States by police. 

Clergy and civil rights groups led a series of protests, at one point staging a demonstration at a courthouse in St. Louis where 60 people were arrested, including Princeton University professor and activist Cornel West, according to a protest organizer. 

Hours later, police arrested dozens of protesters who...

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