Ferguson: protests spread as officer defends shooting

Rallies were held across America last night in protest against Monday's decision to clear a white police officer of killing unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Demonstrations in New York, Seattle, Chicago and Cleveland were mostly peaceful, although riots broke out in Oakland, California.

Hundreds of people blocked traffic in Cleveland, while protesters in New York briefly shut down the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Ferguson suffered a second night of rioting, with 2,200 National Guard troops deployed to stop further unrest.

Protesters set alight a police vehicle, while officers used smoke bombs and tear gas to clear the streets. At one point the police, with dogs and a helicopter, declared that anyone standing in the street would be subject to arrest.

Nevertheless, police said it was a better night than Monday, which was described by The Guardian as "America's worst night of race-related riots in a generation".

Meanwhile, Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot dead 18-year-old Brown in the St Louis suburb on 9 August, has said he has a "clean conscience".

Speaking out for the first time to ABC News, Wilson said there was nothing he could have done differently.

"The reason I have a clean conscience is because I know I did my job right," he said. Wilson denied witness statements claiming that Brown had his hands up when he shot him and insisted race had played no part in the shooting.

He described Brown as a "powerful man" and said he had felt like a "five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan".

On Monday night at least 60 people were arrested, 14 people were injured and a dead body was found yesterday morning in a car close to where Brown died. Millions of dollars of damage was caused.

This morning, Jon Belmar, St Louis police chief, said the police made 44 arrests last night, and also seized a molotov cocktail and two guns. "Generally it was a much better night," he said.