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A protester is arrested outside St. Louis City Hall Wednesday. Several people protesting the Ferguson grand jury decision stormed into City Hall in St. Louis on Wednesday, leading police to lock down the building and to call in more than a hundred additional officers.(Photo: Charlie Riedel, AP)
FERGUSON, Mo. — Calm was prevailing Wednesday as protesters turned out in fewer numbers on a snowy third night of demonstrations over the police shooting of an unarmed black teen.
National Guard troops were visible but their numbers reduced as well from the night before, when a squad car was torched by protesters angered by a grand jury's decision not to indict the white police officer who fired the shots that killed Michael Brown, 18, in August.
Police arrested several people at a demonstration in nearby St. Louis earlier Wednesday.
St. Louis County police said they were looking for an AR-15 rifle stolen from a squad car that was set on fire during the first night of violent protests Monday in Ferguson.
"Rioters yanked out the high-powered police rifle and the rack in which it was stored," Sgt. Brian Schellman told KDSK-TV.
Members of a group calling itself Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, a radical performance group from New York, serenaded National Guard troops protecting the police station. Billy Talen, who leads the group, called on Americans to take part in "blackout Black Friday" and boycott major retailers on this traditionally busy shopping weekend to show solidarity with Ferguson protesters.
"You have a racist killing police department," Talen said. "It goes with how society spends in its everyday life."
Earlier in the day about 200 protesters gathered outside the Old Courthouse in nearby St. Louis to hold what they called "mock trials" for Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson and other central figures in the ongoing unrest here.
A small group entered the building while shouting, "Shame, shame.'' Three were arrested for failing to disperse, and one of them was also charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, police said.
Police reinforcements were called in and the building locked down.
By Wednesday evening, only a small crowd of protesters stood outside the police station in Ferguson, a close-in suburb of St. Louis, as a cold rain turned to snow.
Tony Hall, 36, who came out for the protest a night earlier, said the nightly demonstrations are starting to wear on him physically. Nonetheless, he said he felt compelled to be there.
"I'm still angry and I'll still be angry about this 50 years from now," Hall said.
Despite the torching of a police car and scores of arrests, police said Wednesday that Tuesday night's protests in nearby Ferguson were smaller and less violent than the arson and widespread violence that initially rocked the city and area Monday after it was made public that a grand jury had declined to indict Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown, 18.
Police officers put out a fire in a police car after protesters burned it in front of City Hall in Ferguson, Mo., on Tuesday.(Photo: Tannen Maury, EPA)
A total of 58 people were arrested at area protests overnight, including 45 in Ferguson.
"The ramped-up presence and action of the Missouri National Guard has been helpful,'' Gov. Jay Nixon said. "I will continue to monitor the situation closely to determine whether additional resources are necessary to protect public safety.''
St. Louis Police Chief Jon Belmar said Tuesday was "generally a much better night.''
In Ferguson during protests on Tuesday, officers used tear gas and pepper spray, and demonstrators set a squad car on fire and broke windows at the town's City Hall. .
STORY: Police tactics in Ferguson puzzle residents, experts
Two guns, a Molotov cocktail and items thrown at officers were seized, police said.
Ron Johnson, Missouri State Highway Patrol captain, said officers had "not seen anything of this magnitude."
"We'll go back tonight and reevaluate so we can have a better day tomorrow," he said.
An unbroken Molotov cocktail was collected outside Ferguson City Hall as rioters broke windows and set fire to a police vehicle, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said Tuesday morning during a Unified Command briefing.
Ferguson's mayor complained the National Guard deployed too late Monday to prevent destruction.
More than a dozen buildings burned Monday night, other businesses were looted and cars were set on fire. Belmar said there were 21 fires and 61 arrests, 32 for burglary. Three officers were injured in the mayhem, which was spread over four square miles.
Michael Brown, Sr. found out Darren Wilson hadn't been indicted shortly before the world did. Although he disagreed with the decision and how it was announced, he condemned any violence or negative actions in his son's name. VPC
Protesters and demonstrators from across the country took to the streets Tuesday night in support of Michael Brown, the unarmed teen who was killed by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer. VPC
Shahieda Hudson, of St. Louis, brought her daughter, niece and nephew to help clean up a Ferguson antique store that was ravaged by fire in the first night of protests.
"I wanted them to feel they were important members of this city, and that they can share their voice in a productive way," she said.
St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch released more than 1,000 pages of documents and testimony from the grand jury proceedings. That included testimony from Wilson, who said Brown attacked him in the patrol car, forcing him to shoot. Witnesses accounts differed on whether Brown's hands were raised, moments later, when Wilson fired the fatal shots on a Ferguson street, McCulloch said.
With the decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney's Office has released documents and evidence pertaining to the grand jury investigation. VPC
Wilson remains on administrative leave from the police force.
Contributing: Yamiche Alcindor, William M. Welch, USA TODAY
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