The Governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Ferguson on Saturday, trying to restore order after a week of racially charged protests and looting over the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer, according to Reuters.
The curfew will run midnight until 5 a.m. until further notice, said Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson. Johnson was named by the governor this week to oversee security in the suburban St. Louis community that has been roiled by the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, Reuters reported.
"The eyes of the world are watching. This is the test of whether a community, this community, any community, can break the cycle of fear, distrust and violence, and replace them with peace, strength and, ultimately, justice," Nixon told a gathering at a church near Ferguson, according to Reuters.
Some in the crowd reacted angrily to the news and several said the police officer who killed Brown must be prosecuted for murder if peace is to return to the community, Reuters reported. There were shouts of "hands up, don't shoot," a phrase that has become a rallying cry in Ferguson over the last week.
Nixon said public safety had to be protected, according to the AP. "We cannot have looting and crimes at night, we can't have people fearful," he said.
The unrest erupted after police officer Darren Wilson, 28, shot and killed Brown shortly after noon a week ago as Brown and a friend walked down a street that runs through an apartment complex where Brown's grandmother lives, the AP reported.
Tensions have been high all week but escalated on Friday evening as protesters again swarmed through a residential and retail district that has become a center of the unrest, pitting mostly black protesters against mostly white police, according to the AP.
On Saturday, people marching through city streets held signs that read "black lives matter," and "Don't shoot," the AP reported.
Brown's family and supporters have demanded for days that the officer who shot Brown be held accountable, according to the AP. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the shooting for any civil rights violations, and the St. Louis County Police department is also investigating the shooting.
