BBC Online: The US town of Ferguson has seen rioting and looting after a jury decided not to bring charges over the killing of a black teenager. Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, on 9 August, sparking protests. A police chief said the latest violence in the suburb of St Louis, Missouri, was “probably much worse” than on any night since the teenager’s death. St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar said rioters had fired 150 shots. Many in the African-American community had called for Mr Wilson to be charged with murder, but after three months of deliberation a Missouri grand jury – of nine white and three black members – made no recommendation of charges. President Barack Obama joined the teenager’s family on Monday in appealing for calm, urging Americans to accept the decision was “the grand jury’s to make”. The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool reported seeing more vandalism and looting after Monday’s ruling than on any night in August. Torn apart’ Authorities said more than 80 people were arrested amid chaos in several areas of St Louis overnight. Sixty-one of those arrests were in Ferguson, with charges including burglary and trespassing. The fabric of the community, Mr Belmar, had been “torn apart” in Ferguson, which is a predominantly black community patrolled by a mainly white police force. As protesters charged barricades, hurling glass bottles, police responded with smoke and tear gas. One protester, Charles Miller, told the BBC that while he did not advocate violence, he understood why people were angry. “You can’t just go shoot an 18-year-old who’s unarmed on the street, despite what the story may have been,” he said. Thousands of people also protested in other US cities, from Los Angeles to New York. In Oakland, California, they blocked traffic on a major highway in the San Francisco Bay area. Officer Darren Wilson’s testimony Mr Wilson said he tried to block Mr Brown and another man in the street with his police vehicle in connection with a robbery, but when he tried to open the car door, Mr Brown slammed it shut. The police officer said he managed to reopen the door, pushing Mr Brown back with it, and then the teenager hit him in the face. In the struggle which followed, Mr Wilson said, the teenager tried to grab his drawn gun while insulting him. Mr Wilson said he fired several shots during the struggle before Mr Brown ran off. When Mr Brown stopped running, the officer said, he ordered him to get on the ground but Mr Brown advanced on him instead, putting his right hand under his shirt in the waistband of his trousers. Mr Wilson said he then fired the fatal shots.
