Ferguson: teargas, gunfire and arson following grand jury verdict - as it happened

This blog has ended. Continuing coverage will continue with Matthew Weaver over at a new blog page.

Below is a summary of events.

• The police officer who shot dead an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, leading to weeks of unrest and reviving a national debate about law enforcement and race in America, will not face state criminal charges. A grand jury in St Louis County declined to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown on 9 August, following an altercation after the officer stopped him and a friend for jaywalking.
• The national guard has been ordered into Ferguson after violent protests, including arson and shooting. The request was made by the mayor James Knowles.
• Barack Obama has appealed for calm and an acceptance of the verdict. He said the problems behind such cases could be fixed, but not by “throwing bottles or hurting people”.
• Michael Brown’s family said they were “profoundly disappointed” by the grand jury’s verdict. In a statement the family urged protesters to remain peaceful.

I’ll be closing this blog shortly, and my colleague Matthew Weaver in London will take over on a fresh page.

St Louis County Police department chief Jon Belmar has addressed media.

Belmar said he and chief Dodson and others had a heads up yesterday from Bob McCulloch. He said he didn’t know the result, but he knew it was coming.

In response to a question Belmar said he doesn’t think it would have made a difference to their preparations.

Multiple people inside MoKaBe’s cafe are reporting tear gas fired at what was a designated “safe place.”

Please be aware these are unconfirmed reports but there are a number of them.

Governor Jay Nixon has ordered more national guardsmen to the city, after a request from mayor James Knowles, multiple outlets are reporting.

Meantime, there are more fires burning, including a car dealership pictured below.

More from the grand jury testimony.

Lauren Gambino has filed this dispatch from New York.

In New York City, protestors reacting to the decision not to indict Darren Wilson, reportedly shut down three city bridges and tossed fake blood on the city’s police commissioner William Bratton.

The protests anchored at Times Square, but a large group broke away and marched more than 80 blocks north to Harlem. I followed some hundreds of protestors to the mouth of the Triborough Bridge. Police attempted to block protestors here but before the officers could set up, a group darted on to the bridge. Reporters on the bridge said the demonstrators shut it down.

Police briefly brawled with the protestors waiting at the entrance to the bridge early Tuesday morning. More than 50 officers ran into the crowd of people who did not cross and instead gathered at the entry point. Police used their batons to beat back protestors. The confrontation lasted only a few seconds but it entirely changed the tone of the otherwise peaceful protest. I saw at least two men arrested and heard reports that there were more made on the bridge.

As of 1:30am on Tuesday morning, police were still working to clear the Triborough bridge and to disperse the nearby protest. Times Square was still filled with people chanting Hands Up, don’t shoot” and saving protest signs.

A few images of Ferguson from Guardian reporters on the ground, Paul Lewis and Jon Swaine.

A letter from Darren Wilson to his supporters has been leaked, according to KSDK news. Wilson had asked that it was kept secret until after the investigation was completed. In it he thanks them for standing up for him “during this stressful time.” It continues:

All of you are simply amazing, and I don’t know how to thank you all enough. I wish I could attend meet you, hug you, and personally thank you for all of your continued support, however, due to my and my families safety I am unable to. Please don’t give this letter to any media or post it where they can see it. Relay the message of thanks to all and keep this letter private until the investigation is complete.

I want you all to know that I do get updates on the amount of support. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see all of the comments made through social media, but overall messages are relayed to me.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and know that I would do the same for any of you.

Also please keep my family in blue in your hearts and prayers, they have all made a sacrifice to their own lives in order to work the excessive hours through the heat and rain to ensure that the riots and protests in Ferguson were as safe as they could be.

Thank you,

P.O. Darren Wilson

“Heavy looting” going on at W Florrisant and Chambers, and police have been ordered to a nearby station to secure the parking lot.

The Guardian’s Amanda Holpuch has filed a short take from protests in Sacramento.

The crowd grew into the night, with the Sacramento county sheriffs department blocking off streets as demonstrators walked back and forth across several blocks, picking up residents as they went on. The march was trailed by dozens of officers armed with batons and riot helmets. “Whose streets? Our streets.”

The Missouri grand jury’s decision has sent a message to the world that black lives do not matter. Fists up. The cops still shoot, writes Syreeta McFadden, in an impassioned piece about the feelings surrounding Ferguson right now.

A non-indictment is no absolution of guilt, but are you not angry? Are you not sick of being unsurprised?

Ferguson is indeed a microcosm – of the all the narratives about race and America that we fear and suppress. Still: it is not enough to say that, yes, of course the promise of justice – the promise of America, of democracy – has failed its black citizens, again. It doesn’t make the disappointment any less disappointing, nor the rage any less real. But it doesn’t make the moment any less mighty either.

We can choose to say something else. We are choosing to protest.

Read her piece in full here.

“We want justice and peace, that’s all we want,” a protester tells Jon Swaine.

A CNN reporter has been hit by a thrown rock while doing a live cross. Footage below.

The New York Grill, Fashions R Boutique, Advance Auto Parts and TitleMax Title Loans on W Florissant are all burning now, Guardian reporters have said.

Police have ordered media to leave the area. Earlier in the evening a strict no fly zone was established, a decision which was criticised in the first bout of unrest in August as an attempt to reduce media scrutiny.

There are audible gunshots through the live feeds of Ferguson, as well as the sounds of distant explosions.

Swat officers are arresting people at gunpoint. A team is also currently going inside a gas station where people are reportedly be looting.

The Guardian’s reporter, Paul Lewis has sent in the below image from Ferguson, where troopers are guarding the burning remains of a beauty store and Metro PCS on W Florissant.

edit: picture previously incorrectly credited

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