Hundreds march in Ferguson to protest police shooting: local media

(Reuters) - Hundreds of marchers took to the streets in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday, local media reported, with protesters calling for justice three weeks after a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot the 18-year-old Brown on Aug. 9. The shooting sparked violent protests in the St. Louis suburb and drew global attention to the state of race relations in the United States. For days after the shooting, police and demonstrators in Ferguson clashed nightly, with authorities coming under fire for mass arrests and what critics said were the use of heavy-handed tactics and military gear. Organizers said the march on Saturday was held to protest against police killings, brutality, profiling and cover-ups, according to their Facebook page. Marchers began gathering in a restaurant parking lot near the location of the shooting before walking to the spot where Brown was shot, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported. The paper said some marchers carried signs and some wore T-shirts that showed a person with his hands raised with the words "Don't Shoot." "I came here because I want to be a part of the spirit of the movement," Memphis resident Ian Buchanan, 44, told the newspaper. Authorities have released few details about the shooting. A St. Louis County grand jury has begun hearing evidence and the U.S. Justice Department has opened its own investigation. In differing accounts, police have said Brown struggled with Wilson, who shot and killed him. But some witnesses say Brown held up his hands and was surrendering when he was shot multiple times in the head and chest. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Jonathan Kaminsky and David Gregorio)