World

Shooting protesters gather across US

November 26, 2014 5:00 pm

Angry crowds have been protesting for a second night in the US town of Ferguson against the decision not to prosecute the white police officer who shot dead an unarmed black teen.

But the deployment of hundreds more National Guard troops has prevented a repeat of Monday night’s violence over the killing of Michael Brown.

Demonstrations from New York to Seattle were mostly peaceful, with protesters chanting and waving placards, but rioting broke out in Oakland, California, the BBC reports.

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More than 2000 troops were sent to Ferguson after riots erupted on Monday following the grand jury’s decision that Darren Wilson would not be charged over the 18-year-old’s death on 9 August.

There was some unrest in Ferguson today, with police making 44 arrests, but the town did not see rioting on the scale of Monday night.

Darren Wilson has told his version of events, saying that he had to shoot Mr Brown before the teen got to him and he had a “clean conscience”.

Mr Wilson has disputed eyewitness accounts that Mr Brown turned around and put his hands in the air.

He told the ABC that Mr Brown was a powerful man and when he had confronted him, the 18-year-old had hit him, sworn at him and refused to back off.

Mr Wilson said he asked himself whether he could legally shoot Mr Brown. “I answered myself ‘I have to. If I don’t, he will kill me if he gets to me’.”