Missouri police say used tear gas to quell coordinated violence

(Reuters) - Police in Ferguson, Missouri said they faced coordinated attacks, including gunfire and Molotov cocktails, during protests over the shooting of a black teenager on Sunday, and defended their use of tear gas to try and quell the violence. Hundreds of protesters fled to safety after authorities fired tear gas and canisters of smoke to disperse them hours ahead of a planned midnight curfew in the tense St. Louis suburb where Michael Brown, 18, was shot to death by a police officer on Aug. 9. "Molotov cocktails were thrown, there were shootings, looting, vandalism, and other acts of violence that clearly appear not to have been spontaneous," Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson told a late night news briefing. The "coordinated acts" by a few in the crowd were "premeditated criminal acts designed ... to provoke a response," Johnson added. He said the trouble began after police responded to the shooting of a civilian at around 8.25 p.m., which Johnson said . (Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Andrew Heavens)