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.
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.
Ferguson's mayor complained the National Guard deployed too late Monday to prevent destruction.
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