As many as 400
demonstrators spread out across several city blocks in south St Louis, angrily
shouting and chanting at rows of police officers.
Protesters have burned American flags in a
second night of demonstrations following the fatal shooting of a black teenager
by Missouri police.
Police in riot gear lined
up on a high street, as police helicopters buzzed above the neighbourhood.
Officers used pepper spray to force the crowd back.
There were scuffles with
police.
Some protesters burned the
American flag, while others banged on drums and shouted: "This is what
democracy looks like!"
Some slammed the sides of
police vans. Broken glass littered the street.
Vonderrit D Myers, 18, was
killed in the Shaw neighbourhood by a white officer on Wednesday night.
The killing raised tensions
in a community still reeling from the shooting dead of Michael Brown by police.
The unarmed black teenager was killed in August in the St Louis suburb of
Ferguson.
The protests on Thursday
night followed a quiet candlelight prayer vigil for Mr Myers.
State and city leaders have
urged the Justice Department to investigate the death.
Some accuse police of
racial profiling, saying he was targeted because he was black.
Police said Mr Myers fired
multiple times before the white officer returned 17 shots and fatally wounded
him.
The teenager's parents say
he was unarmed.
The latest round of
protests came on the eve of a weekend of planned marches and rallies in St
Louis and Ferguson to demand the arrest of the officer who killed Mr Brown.
Civil rights organisations
and protest groups also want to draw attention to police treatment of black
Americans.
The organisers said they
are planning only peaceful activities, but fear that Wednesday's killing might
trigger violent outbursts.
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