Protesters gathered outside the Ferguson Police Department, their cheers at the resignation of the city’s embattled police chief quickly giving way to angry chants of “Racist cops have got to go” and gunfire.
Two officers were shot, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported — an account CNN could not immediately independently confirm. The extent of their injuries wasn’t known, the paper reported.
“All of a sudden, I heard at least 4 or 5 shots rang out,” witness Markus Loehrer told CNN. “It took me at least 30 seconds of watching before I realized there was an officer down. We are not there to shoot cops, we don’t like violence. So we did what anybody would do — we ran away.”
At least one scuffle broke out between demonstrators. Some ocficers stood behind cars with guns drawn.
As they faced a long line of officers, some demonstrators briefly closed South Florissant Road that runs in front of the police station. At least two people were arrested, CNN affiliate KMOV reported, but it wasn’t clear why.
The revived protests, which had died down in recent weeks, is indication that Ferguson continues to be a powder keg despite the string of resignations that have followed since the Justice Department issued a report damning the city’s policing tactics for disproportionately targeting African-Americans.
The latest to step down was Police Chief Thomas Jackson.
Protestor DeRay McKesson said demonstrators want more — they want the police department disbanded and for Mayor James Knowles to resign as well.
The demonstrators are also angry that the officer who killed Michael Brown was exonerated of wrong doing by a grand jury and the Justice Department.
It was the shooting death of Brown, an unarmed black teen, by the white police Officer Darren Wilson that saw Ferguson erupt in sometimes-violent protests.
“We’re here for Mike Brown,” demonstrators chanted Wednesday night.
MORE TO COME
