Ferguson Police Come Under Fire at Protest

US police have said they came under "heavy gunfire" and 31 people were
arrested during protests in Ferguson, Missouri sparked by the shooting
death of a black unarmed teenager by a white policeman,Al
Jazeerareports.

Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who is in charge
of security in Ferguson, said bottles and Molotov cocktails were also
thrown from the crowd in the early hours of Tuesday.

"Our officers came under heavy gunfire," in one area, he told a news
conference, adding that riot police had confiscated two guns from
protesters and what looked like a petrol bomb.

Earlier, police fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters as
skirmishes erupted after hours of street protests that had been tense
but mostly peaceful.

National Guard troops have been deployed to help quell days of
racially charged rioting and looting spurred by the fatal shooting of
18-year-old Michael Brown.

Missouri's governor on Monday lifted the curfew for the St Louis
suburb that had been in place from midnight to 5am since Saturday.

As daylight was coming to an end, police with plastic handcuffs took
positions and tried to clear a main thoroughfare where protests have
taken place at night, directing crowds into designated protest areas.

Video from the scene showed one journalist, with cameras slung around
his neck and his hands bound behind him, being led off by police. He
was identified by colleagues as Getty photographer Scott Olson.

Police said at least 31 people were arrested.

US President, Barack Obama, called for calm and said he could not make
any judgements about situation in Ferguson until investigation is
complete.

"While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the
death of Michael Brown, giving in to that anger by looting or carrying
guns, and even attacking the police only serves to raise tensions and
stir chaos. It undermines rather than advancing justice," he told
reporters at the White House.

The president's statement followed claims the black teenager had been
shot at least six times.

"Six bullets struck, and two may have re-entered" Brown's body, said
Michael Baden, a former New York chief medical examiner. Baden was
asked by Brown's family and lawyers to conduct the independent
examination on his remains.

One of the bullets hit the top of Brown's head, another struck his
eye, while others hit his right arm, Baden told a news conference in
Ferguson.

"All of the gunshot wounds could have been survivable, except the one
at the top of the head," he said.