>> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. hi everyone, i'm john seigenthaler in new york. this is al jazeera america. breaking news tonight - a decision - a tense, dangerous, emotional nights in ferguson, missouri, and we are watching it unfold live. less than two hours ago we learnt that the grand jury decided not to indict officer darren wilson in the shooting death of an unarmed teen michael brown. >> they determined that no probable cause existed to file a charge against darren wilson, and returned a no true billion

five indictments a crowd has been waiting outside the ferguson police department waiting for the news much within minutes there were acts of violence. some tried to overturn a police car. fires were set. reporters on the ground say police responded with tear gas. you see some of it there, and there were reports of gunshots. now protesters are at a standoff with police, they are outfitted in riot gear. some of the protesters had gas masks. john terrett was hit by some of that tear gas and joins us to tell us what happened. john. >> hey, good evening. our crew was hit by tear gas. it happened incredibly quickly. let me tell you the story of the night. a large set of speakers was set up close to the ferguson police headquarters so the crowd could listen to the announcement.

they learnt there was no indictment and a chant went out "no indictment", some went up to a barrier where police were standing and threw bottles and water, and gas masks, oddly enough. one was thrown at the police station, bouncing off their shields, and stones thrown as well. a short time later they marched off. the organizers said they were going off to march through the town to pay respects to michael brown at the memorial at the site where he died. on the way something changed with the mood of the crowd and they overturned a police car. the shops were looted, early stage looting began. the police had none of that, and went on to speakers saying if you don't disperse you'll be tear gas said, subject to arrest and shortly after the tear gas came in. we had gas masks with us. there was not time to put them on. it happened quickly, it got into the car and everything.

awful thing when you get tear gassed. anyway, the result of that is that the protesters screamed down the road shouting "they're coming, they're come," and the police came in armoured vehicles firing tear gas. the police say they fired smoke cannisters, and that is true, but they had tear gas mixed in as well. a lot of people were briefly poisoned by it. the crowd has dispersed all around the area. there's a car on fire here, a short way from where we are now, and what you see behind me - i'll step aside so you get a better look is a group of vehicles with officers in riot gear, protecting the area around the police station and the fire station. we have heard certainly what everyone here assumes was gunfire. it's impossible to know whether that was coming from protesters or the police. nonetheless it happened, there is an uneasy stand off as you say. >> let's talk a little bit.

i know people are wrapped up well, it's a cold night, right? >> well, it's funny you should say that. part of the hope of the community that, this wouldn't happen, and things wouldn't get out of hand is unlike in august, it's a cold season. certainly in the course of the week, it's too cold to stand out here. tonight, it's cold, but it's not as cold as it might be, and it's not raining nor is it snowing. a lot of people are wondering why it was that the authorities released this announcement at the time they did. they are saying why did they leave it until what was 8 o'clock local time, 9 o'clock eastern time to make the announcement. it is dark, and that makes everything worse. a lot of people wonder why the decision didn't come down during daylight hours. nonetheless, it didn't, and now we have an ongoing situation. >> all right. john terrett, stay safe. we'll talk later protests are taking place in

other parts of the country. in new york more than 1,000 gathered in times square, chanting "justice for michael brown." these are live pictures, and they are carrying signs saying "black's matter", more protests are scheduled around the country. there's some on the west coast. michael brown's family released a statement saying: lawyers for officer darren wilson released this statement tonight saying:

we have been talking to dante barry, the executive doctors of the million hoodies movement for justice, founded after the death of trayvon martin. you think about trayvon martin on a night like this? >> absolutely. i think right back to that terrible terrible day of when george zimmerman was acquitted of the murder charges. the system was not designed to protect black people. it was designed to keep us out. and it was designed to patrol us in every way. we look back into the circumstances that affect tony martin, they are similar to the circumstances that affect michael brown, and ricky aboyd

and all the other folks murdered in brutal acts by the police. >> i'm thinking if african-americans who have been watching this unfold throughout the evening. again, you have been checking the phone and busy talking to people. give me a little more of what you are hearing. >> people are frustrated. people are upset. they are trying to figure out how to plug in. >> how to what? >> how to plug in. particularly white people who are in solidarity with what is happening in ferguson, and across the country and figuring out how to plug in. one thing that has been suggested is go your community and take action. find folks doing the work in chicago, new york, d.c., all the different communities across the country and plug in and take action. this will take all of us, not just black people, to really

change the system. >> is it about changing the whole justice system? >> how do you demine justicing right. how do you define justice when one in three black men are criminalized all the time. >> the system you don't believe in. >> it's a system that i'm not going to find justice in. it's a system that a lot of brown people are not going to find justice in. we have to open up our definition of what justice looks like because it doesn't work, in the sense of backing around people. the fact we have a criminal justice system criminalizes black and brown people without regard to how that system is marginalizing the communities of colour. >> how do you start? i mean - with a group of americans that, in the past, have not had a lot of political power, that hasn't been able to change the laws that you say are unfair and unjust - how do you

begin? >> we disrupt. we disrupt. and we also create alternative communities that we want to live in. we are starting to see community policing and conversations around restorative justice as a way to think about how we transform communities, instead of punishing them. we want to create alternative structure or institutions that work in more inclusive ways to the community. dante, president obama spoke from the white house and said "this is not just an issue for ferguson." >> we need to recognise that the situation in ferguson speaks to broader challenges that we still face as a nation. the fact is in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of colour. >> criminal defense attorney robert tarvor junior is in the

studio. the president of united states speaks out about the fact that a grand jury in missouri did not indict. surprised by that? >> i'm not surprised at all. the president has a powder keg on his hands. too many of these incidents are happening across the country. anyone that things this move is about ferguson is deceiving themselves. interesting thing happened today. i heard charles baron, an assemblyman from new york city saying i'm not calling for calm, i'm calling for something else. once people say no calm in the face of these things, we have some issues. you have to ask yourself as it relates to the people victimized and brutalized, what stake do they have in calling for calm. this is really a national problem. that is why the president has to take a national stance as far as quelling what is happening. federal government can instill special prosecutors in these states to deal only with police

prosecutions. they haven't pushed it or asked for funding for it. if they did, things would change remarkably. >> maybe i'm wrong, give me your response, i'm not sure that we would have seen a white president speak out as much as president obama has. is this as much about his own sensitivity to this as african-american male. ? >> i think president obama has been forthright that he has empathy for his community. the fact is he's an african-american mam, and had several african-american male initiatives, and recognises where they stand in this country. many politicians recognise exactly where african-american males stand, but have been shy about speaking out about it because of their own personal constituenci constituencies, it's time for that to change and hopefully president obama's example will move tonne others, who have a

stake in this system. >> i look at the pictures on the right-hand side of the screen as a talk to you and see the cloud of smoke overhead, the crowds running through the streets, the horns hanging, sirens blaring, and, you know, i don't know how much damage or violence is occurring there - there's a fire burning in ferguson - but when you talk about - we see pictures of war zones every day on the broadcast. this looks like a war zone. what is the message that is sent here? >> the message in my mind is that people are fed up. here is the interesting thing. the fact of the matter is when these things happen, when they are not held accountable, not indicted, the cost of these actions is passed on to the taxpayers. why do i say that? ultimately there'll be a civil suit. if an officer is liable in the civil suit, they don't make the

officer's pay or the police department pay or the police department change policies, or the police department alter anything, they make the town or the municipality pay out of their pockets. as soon as that changes, as soon as you make officers accountable individually, financially for their own actions, they may think twice about how they react in these situations. >> all right, robert tarver stand by. social media is exploding with the talk of the ferguson grand jury position. wajahat ali takes a look at what people are saying online. >> john, the online community is responding passionately to the news that the grand jury will not indict darren wilson for the shooting and killing of michael brown. i was in law school and they taught us it's easy to get a grand jury indictment that you can indict a ham sandwich - take it how you will.

we asked our community and rjs tweeted: we have a video comment center chris, dreading the decision. >> here in st louis a lot of people are scared, a lot of people are really, really angry. and a lot of people like me are trying to explain to their kids - they have a lot of questions. i'd like them to, you know, grow up in a different world where things like this don't happen any more. >> the decision has come out. we have steven who tweets in: he is in the minority when it comes to to the online community. this is what we hear:

now the prosecutor robert mcculloch in his speech was critical of social media fanning the flames, and the comments: speaking about social media. we have another: now, check out this guy fawkes mask - we must recognise it from the up wall street protest. these are showing up all over the nationwide protests, coordinated using social media. for example using hashtag ferguson philadelphia here is a

peaceful protest, and in union square in new york city, getting bigger. and vern echos the sent iments of president obama: i'm going to end on a healing note by a pastor tweeting: i hope people are listening, stay safe, and whatever your thoughts, tweet at me thank you. a former n.y.p.d. deputy inspector cory pagese joins us in our studio. welcome, good to have you on the programme. >> thanks for having me. i'm told you know the reason why they decided to make the announcement at 9 o'clock. >> i don't have top secret information. but i would guess that the later they make the decision, the more - the easier it will be for the community to deal with. people have to go work.

kids have to go to school. if they make it later, you know, it will calm down sooner. they are making it at 9 o'clock, than having to deal with a protest for 10-12 hours, as opposed to dealing with it for two or three hours. policing - they make decisions like that. >> surprised by what you are seeing tonight? >> are we talking about the verdict or the... >> let's talk about the verdict first? >> the verdict i'm not surprised. what the community at large needs to understand is it is very, very difficult to indict n officer that is doing their lawful duty. so the burning is hard. i'm a cop, i'm not defending what happened, but i'm talking the police perspective. i know thousands of cops. they don't go to work saying "hey, i'm going to kill someone", these things happened

in a matter of seconds. this incident from the radio call to the shooting was 90 seconds, it's split second decisions. what the community has a problem with every single time we make split second decisions african-american or hispanic kids are on the end and we say "hey, it's an accident", and the minority community is saying enough is enough. we had a kid killed in brooklyn new york, two days ago, walking in the stairway of his housing develop. opened the door, shot and killed. >> what is that a function of in your opinion. is that an accident? >> i don't buy the theory it's an accident. when you make a conscious decision to put the finger on the trigger, is it an accident. you are not supposed to have your finger on the decision unless you make a decision that you are about to fire your weapon. if you are not going to fire your weapon, the hand shouldn't

be on the trigger. i don't think anyone has a problem with a cop if you are scared. you have discretion to pull out your firearm. if you raise it and put the finger on the trigger that's a different ball game. if my son, 18-year-old son is dead or 27 year-old son, i don't want to hear it's an accident. that's the problem the communities have, and what happened in ferguson is decision - i don't think anybody is surprised given recent decisions over the last 20 years. you go to rodney king, it was on a video. cops meaning exonerated. shaun bell, 40 something shot. exonerat exonerated. diallo - the list goes on. at the end, the person getting the short end of the stick is minorities. >> we are looking at a picture of wall green's, it's on fire.

to john terrett, he has more than that. >> hey, good evening from ferguson. we have word that looting has started down the road from where we are. the wall green's is on fire, some protesters broke into a bank. i have two guests to tell us about this. raven and china, sisters from ferguson, raven will graduate in a couple of day's time before going to university to study law. what did you think, you didn't think it would get so bad? >> this is mad, crazy, it all escalated, everyone is upset, devastated, burning buildings and looting will not resolve anything. we live here. we have to go to the stores, the banks. i don't understand what is going on, it's sad. so see things burning down, it's

sad. >> why do you think some of the protesters resorted to looting and burping down the walgreens, why would they do that? >> they are angry, i guess, and the way to show it is looting. that is not solving anything. you have to live here. this is your home, this is crazy. it's not a good way to solve things. >> china, you are 15. you took a good video on your phone which you will email us. what did you see? >> they burnt the walgreens, set it on fire, broke into the bank. it's crazy. things shouldn't happen like this. it should be solved a lot better. we are a lot better than this. we shouldn't be showing out like this. it's crazy. >> 15-17 - are you frightened. >> i'm scared. what if i get hit, people driving crazy, would you hit me, or student guns, you know, shot up the street.

i don't feel safe. this is where i live. i have to deal with it. >> raven and china, thank you for talking to us and telling us what you saw. >> back to you, john. >> john terrett going a remarkable job on the ground there in ferguson, missouri, and i want to bring back cory pagese. you were watching this, tell me what you were seeing. >> it's sad to see the people burning their own communities, and the only affected are people that live in their communities. police are not going to be affected, they probably don't live in their community, they'll go home to where they have walgreens and mobile gas stations they'll go there. you burn down the community that you live in, where will you shop or get your gas. it's sad that that is happening. what we need to do as an american country is realise there's a problem with policing and minority communities.

someone has to put their finger on it. i believe it needs to come from the higher echelons of government, the president of the united states. not just because he's african-american, but someone needs to say "we have a problem with policing in the minority communities", they are on the short end of the stick. do you know what the short end is? they are dead. >> let me go back to - we were talking about the prosecutor in this case, and the groour, and the grand jury, and the grand jury decision, and you talked about situations in which the police are lawful fully going their job. is it possible the police officer in this case was lawfully doing his job, darren wilson? >> i have a problem with the prosecutor in this case. it's sort of like football. fourth and one, and you punt the ball. he pretty much punt the ball to the grand jury, he's a prosecutor, he's paid the big bucks to vet these things and come up with a decision. do you know what he did, he

punted it and said listen. i'm not making the decision. i'm paid the money to be the prosecutor in missouri. i'm going to give it to the grand jury and let them make a decision. why wouldn't the prosecutor with decades of experience take the information, analyse it and make the decision. why give it to a grand jury. >> how would you answer that? >> i can't. >> was afraid to make the decision, wanted to use a grand jury? >> prosecutors are in bed with the police. i'm a cop. when cops go to court, prosecutors give you coffee, water, they are loving you - i'm telling you this, is real stuff. i don't know what cops you have on the show. i'm give it to you black and white. this is what happens. they lay in bed with the police officers. the easy thing for him to do without being, you know, they would say, "hey, this guy is too close to the cops, i'll remove myself and give it to a grand jury, a grand jury of peers.

i would like to see the make-up of the jury. racial make-up. >> there were african-americans on the grand jury, i think it was four or five of the 12. >> four out of 12. that's not near the 72%. >> are you saying he should have prosecuted the case. of course, that's what he should get elected for. >> let me stop you for two seconds, i have robert ray on the phone in a hot situation. robert tell us. >> john, we are at west florence avenue here, there's a building that is significantly on fire right now. i think it's a beauty salon. multiple fire trucks out here. fire trucks came up - came running at the fire trucks saying "please, get up here. we need you to get up", the crane is going up.

this whole pocket next to the mcdonald's on the street, across from the dollar general. the whole pocket is full of smoke. police have gas masks and they are in riot gear, a lot of people attempting to drive through the pocket, sitting on vehicles. i walked past a guy with a mask is a baseball bat. it's a hostile environment. doesn't look like it's letting up at all. >> we are looking up from above. looks like traffic is stopped in the street. robert, what else have you seen, you have been in different locations. >> we were at a peaceful location. earlier in front of the justice hall, in clayton where the grand jury made the announcement this evening. you could hear a pin drop. there was absolutely nothing happening outside there. and to come over here, which we

arrived at, a completely different scene. took us a while to get into the picture. many of the streets are blocked. we are trying to get a picture momentarily. we should have something in the next few minutes. we are up. if you want to, what i can do is put a microphone out, we'll get the live for you in a second. >> i'll let you do that. i'll continue my consider with corey pegues. i'm looking at your live picture that we are beginning to draw in. corey pegues, you said that they started 9 o'clock maybe in order to - imagine this happening at 9 o'clock. >> look at the crowd. it's a big crowd. >> what i am perturbed about is the governor, the mayor, and the

police commissioner had months and months to prepare for this. how in the world is a wall greens burning in that county when you had months to prepare for this decision. >> how do you prepare? how do you stop someone burning down walgreens. >> do you know how - gathering information, analysing and deploying personnel. you know a verdict was coming down, yea or nay. activate the national guard, put them around. >> they did that? >> where did they put them? they sure didn't put them in walgreens, you have to put them in strategic areas - by the gas station, walmarts, you know they'll go to the big stores to loot. you have to prepare for this. the city police accident -- new york city police don't have these problems, they prepare. when you have 2-3 months to prepare for a decision, and the first night within two hours, they are burning down a major store in the area. >> we are looking at it. >> that's a mockery of police.

>> that and this picture, which appears to be protesters, and we heard earlier that they'd try to stop traffic. it looks like a stand off on a major thorough fair in ferguson. we are approaching midnight on the east coast. it's 10:30 in central time. and the - this is not - the situation continues in ferguson. clearly the conflict continues, the anger and the standoff between police and protesters that we saw three months ago continuing after the decision from the prosecutor that he will not indict officer darren wilson for the shooting of michael brown. we'll take a break and be right back after this. don't go away.

welcome back everyone, i'm john siegenthaler in new york, we are following breaking news out of ferguson, missouri. fires, tear gas hit the streets again. there'll be no indictment of officer darren wilson, who shot and killed michael brown on august 9th. i'll read you the lead story in the ""the los angeles times", and it says a missouri grand jury decided not to indict

darren wilson, a white police officer who shot and killed downs, and in the "new york times", a st louis county jury brought no criminal charges against darren wilson, a white police officer who fatally shot michael brown, an unarmed african-american teenager more than three months ago. robert ray was in clayton, missouri when the announcement was made, outside the courthouse. he has travelled to ferguson and is getting a close-hand look at what is going on. tell me what you see, robert? >> yes, thanks for having us back. now we are situated between three fires. the fire that i described earlier behind me, next to the mcdonald's. down there that fire erupted, and there's a fire in this building. there's the police in riot gear in line. we'll flip around. they made the announcement "this is no longer a peaceful

protests. protesters need to disperse", and they ran after some of them, and ran down there. these guys are serious, this is not at all peaceful any more. there's fires literally on the street, and they need to get these out. i mean, it's quite amazing when you see - watch out, there's a fire truck. let's look out, guys much sorry, john. this truck is probably heading down this parking lot here. derek, if we look down to where it's headed to the fire. let's try to walk a little with it. this is exactly what the brown family asked not to happen. no violence, no looting, and now look at this. this is way worse than what we saw in august. literally buildings on fire in ferguson, the st louis suburb, because of the decision of the grand jury. there's a vehicle that sped around. it's everywhere you look, it's

something that is hostile and scary. no one is safe out here right now. people are trying to put out the fires, police, it seems like there is no rule right now. >> what are they saying in the loud speaker? i know you are right in the middle of it in. first of all, what are they saying, and if the photographer can turn and look in the direction of the big fire that you show us, and tell us what that is as well. >> sure, sure. what they are saying on the speaker is this is no longer a peaceful protest. that is the big fire i was referring to earlier down there by the mcdonald's. if you can, just show john that. that is the fire that is - initially they started to put out, and derek, i know i'm asking you to do a lot. if you flip around and zoom in on the flyer down the block, that thing is raging as we speak and on top of that, this

building, this is also on fire, a physicians, in the back. i'm not sure what that was, perhaps gun fire. i'm not sure what that is. it's popping. >> why don't you take cover there, and we'll get back to you in a second. john terrett is standing buy in ferguson as well. >> it is fire. >> it is fire. john terrett is standing by. what are you seeing right now? >> what i see is the police have lost control of this. we heard from robert eloquently telling us what was happening on west florence, the scene from august. and it's similar as well on south floriceon street where we are, which is where the police headquarters is located. down the street there's a walgreens that is gutted by fire, and there is a bank broken

into. this way there are two cars on fire, and some more shots that have been luted, and now you hear, we'll pan over here, you can hear the players on the ball horn. telling people to get off the street. on to the side walk, for your safety, says the officer, now, we are on the sidewalk, and so are, as far as i can tell, most of the protesters at this time. the police telling protesters they are allowed to be on the side walk for the street. this is an attempt to regain control. there's a small crowd. now, john, with me our colleague from "the faultlines" programme. sebastien, you were here in august and now. i heard it said that this is worse than august, is that true? >> it's similar scenes, we walked from the block behind us, there's two vehicles on fire, the police are advancing down

the street. we have tear gas fired a couple of times. there's a throat full of it. it's definitely tear gas. we heard police say they have not used gas, it is not true. we were coughing and spluttering as we walked up here. seems that this is a hotel that could go on for quite a while. to be honest. this is something that people were saying could come to pass if they felt the decision by the grand jury wasn't justice. they have been calling for the grand jury to hold the officer to account. minutes after the decision, people were gathering outside the police department. >> yet, lesley mcspadden, michael brown's mother and many other people, particularly those in this community have been urging for calm. >> i will interrupt you for a second. i'll go to robert ray, in the middle of a swat team.

what can you tell us? >> well, those were gunshots. i can tell you that. police asks us to get cover. nice and smart. seems like they have it under control. these guys are facing serious challenges as the uppredict ability assessment situation in ferguson was developing. it seems like every few minutes it happens, the building there, it's raging. if you show the picture, it's on fire before. they are trying to put it out. there we go, another gunshot. you can tell, these police officers are challenged and doing their best. no question about it in the smoke-filled street on the cold night. as i look around, a lot of the protesters have been moved down the street near where the fire is past. that's where the rounds of fire occurred, 7-8 minutes ago. we bunkered between the donate

clothing box there as the police asked us to turn off the camera light and hit the deck. no question, i don't know, guys, 25 rounds - we heard pop off. don't know what kind of gun it was, all is well at this point. that could change. >> robert, stand by. back to john terrett, who is with seb walker, you were in the middle of a conversation. continue it, john. the conversation is centring around lesley mcspadden, michael brown's mother and many other members of the community who live here have been urging a peaceful out come tonight, whatever the decision by the grand jury, whatever it was. why do you think it broke down so very fast. it was within minutes of a decision coming down. we had looting. >> i think people, again, have been looking at the grand jury process as something to wait for.

people have been looking towards that as the due process, and, you know, they were expecting there to be accountability for darren wilson, from the community's perspective they didn't get that. it sent people into the streets, almost immediately. we met one of our friends that we have interviewed earlier, who has been part of this community, and peacefully protesting throughout, you know, the early days of the fall out of the shooting. he was saying as soon as he heard the news he came into the street and things escalated quickly. it's hard to control the situation. who is to blame for the violence is difficult. it's - it doubt look good. >> is it in your view worse than it was in august? >> at this point i have seen two police vehicles on friday, and have seen properties on fire. it looks like things are getting more and more tense, this is some of the worse scenes that i have seen so far, and, you know,

it's a couple of hours ago that the jury made a decision. i think it will be a long night. >> finally, briefly, do you think it's playing out what was predicted by those planning to protest. ie, lots of individual protests not in one place, like in august, but all over the town and police have lost control. >> to some extent. what we heard from the protesters, they planned to demonstrate. they had leaders who mobilized the community and were going to get their point across in a peaceful manner. i was in the room when robert mcculloch made the announcement of the grand jury's decisionful we literally arrived here. we have seen burning vehicles, police firing tear gas, it's hard to tell what is going on, who is in the right and the wrong. this is the last thing that anyone wanted. anyone that we have been speaking to.

>> does that point to the fact that there are people outside who care less about the community but are keeper on having a go at the authorities. >> people are enraged about the decision. this is something that, you know, people have been focus the on as a point where they might get accountability for the killing of a young black male. it's hard to control the rage of a community in that respect. >> seb walker, thank you, john back to you in the studio. the officer on the bull horn encouraging a handful of protesters where we are to get on the side walk. >> john terrett, back to you in a moment. we'll go back to a picture we have been looking at, that we watched a while ago. i'll go to mike in a second. we have been watching this picture. this is an example, or well appears to be an example where protesters decided to block a street, there's a stand off between protesters and police that have been going on for a long time on a major highway in the ferguson area.

let me bring in retired army major, mike lyon, i will ask him about the national guard, and the role, mike, that the national guard could be playing. we have not seen a lot of national guard troops so far. it doesn't mean they are not there. how do they interact in a situation like this. >> i'm looking at the pictures right now. you don't see the police in a military uniform. they were trying to desensities that. that situation. they have good muzzle. discipline at this point. once you introduce the national guard, that would escalate, especially the vehicles. you notice the police do not have armoured vehicles that they had last time. that would escalate on the ground, tension immediately as the national guard would role in with heavier equipment. >> looking at the picture from

above. in some situations the national guard is used to protect buildings set on fire. which would normally beg the question - where are they? >> they are probably looking at critical infrastructure, and the city halls, and water treatment plants, things that - power plants, things that would be other targets. they have to make decisions as to risks, they have to take control of the situation, the commander on the ground would take losses, and perhaps that was the decision not to deploy the joakim nordstrom to that situation. >> i'm not blaming the police. as corey pegues mentioned, they had months to plan for this. they had weeks to plan for it. al it happens, the plan goes out the window. it's becoming a military provision, and there's more sensitivity on the side to hold

back the national guard, going that it would escalate, and troops would role in. >> i don't know the number of troops we are talking about here. generally, how many northwards men would be brought in for the situation. >> 600 men and women. doing all different roles. at this point they are not trained in military policing and crowd support. they are there protecting infrastructure. if they are involved in the middle of a frack us, and the protesters, things are out of control. >> mike stand by, let me - we haven't talked in several minutes. i'm trying to get your reaction to what mike described when you talk about the national guard.

we talked about this being out of control in some ways. >> mike made good points. the only thing i kind of disagree with - you need those boots on the ground. we don't have to bring - we don't have the bring the humvees, you can but the national guard on greyhound buses and deploy them to critical sensitive locations - like the water plants, the gas station, the walgreens. this is ferguson. how big is ferguson? 2 miles, if that. 2.2 miles i believe it is. he's a battalion. you can put them. once you have the defense there, the protesters, if you have the national guard, 53 cops in ferguson, they can't do anything. >> two seconds - i have robert ray standing by in a tough situation again. robert? >> yes, john, there's fire

erupting again, probably half a block from where we are. we are trying to make sure we don't take it. as you see, that building - literally ferguson is on fire on this street. gun fire is raining out, and the police and fire department are trying to figure out how to combat the situation right now. behind us there are... >> we are beginning to lose the signal. we'll get back to robert ray. we have john terrett in ferguson - jean -- john, you were the first one to say it - out of control. for your information, we are looking at a picture of a large group of protesters watching - walking down a major thorough fair, in some cases confronting police or are followed by police. this appears to be by no means over for the night, just possibly right in the middle of

it. >> no, it appears to be what was predicted by people who wanted to protest whatever the groour your decision was, particularly if there was no indictment. that was for there to be multiple protests, unlike in august where it was cop sen traited on west flory son street. tonight it's breaking out all over the area, that's what would happen, it appears as if police lost control. i'm told it's looking worse there. it was worse there now than in august. here on south florissant street where the police headquarters ises and the fire station, there's police in riot gear, and several st louis county vehicles and police on a ball horn with a small group of protesters,

knowing that that is where they must stay, saying you can peacefully protest in the community. as long as you are on the sidewalks, you must stay off the streets, for your safety. nearby, we can't show you with our camera, near a walgreens is burning, and a bank broken into. the other way down here there's a couple of cars on fire. this happened quickly. really no sooner than the decision was made, protesters broke away. we were told they were going to march - it quickly turned to violence with looting of businesses, cars on fire, and worse than that all over the town of ferguson. >> stand by, we go back to robert ray, we established the shot. what do you see? >> they are just - yes, one

second, let us get the camera set. gun fire keeps raining out here. we are trying to get behind vehicles in front of us. trying to stay safe. it's - it was steady stream of gunfire there, and the police in riot gear are over there, and the fires continue. gun fire has stopped at this point. i want to show the fire if we could... >> we are having some difficulty with robert's audio. let me go back to - well, we still have him? no. yes, we don't have audio. obviously a really tough situation now, and you have - i mean, we have been listening for the last 20-30 minutes, he's been hearing gunfire constantly, and in a situation like in, in

the middle of the night with smoke and tear gas and fires, and fire departments trying to put fires out, there's so many people in danger, including the protesters themselves. >> it's a very, very dangerous situation. right now for the police officers out there. these are hard-working men and women. if the police commissioner, the chief, the mayor, the governor does not support them, there's no way they should not have a few thousand cops out there that is trained in this sort of control. john, what does it take? we saw this a few months ago. >> let me push back. for the last two weeks we heard about the build-up. there's hundreds of police officers. they bring in the national guard, and what we heard from the protesters was "you're fuelling the fire. you're causing this. you're not helping this situation." this is what we have seen. were they simply not prepared?

did they not get enough people involved and didn't have the right plan. what do you think? >> i think one of the things - people are race-baden, this whole situation - black, white. i believe the government doesn't want to pretty much upset the minority communities, where the government, police officials, the main goal and purpose should be to protect the citizens of ferguson. if that means the government taking a few shot, that means there's too much deployment, and there's less casualties, i'll take that. >> we heard the president of the united states say - he hoped the ferguson police use restraint. yet, if there's restraint here together. it has not made much of a difference. >> well, we all want restraint. we want professional restraint.

we want omnipresent of police officers, national guard, state troopers, bring them in. i don't have a problem with that. you can't police this without manpower. >> it's like some of this was planned. you have professional agitators, it's like ferguson is in the 1940s. >> i have john terrett in ferguson. john. >> we have a line of police officers making their way down the street here near to the police hours where we are. and our cameraman will try to get a picture of this. this is what happened earlier in the day, when we saw - originally people left from after receiving information from the grury decision.

-- grand jury decision. they left to march down the road where you are looking that the first looting broke out, a car was overturned. police after making bull horn announcements came down the road. they are doing something similar. they appear to have stopped. it's a slow-moving convoy of police, they are not firing tear gas. so it's difrom where i'm standing to give you more detail other than what you are looking at. you can see there's a couple of police flashing lights. until a few seconds ago the cars were moving slowly. they appeared to have stopped for the time being. this is a pattern we are seeing, sporadic outbreaks of agitation from the protesters, police pushing back. there's screaming, running and people are pushing back.

i know we lost communication with you, and you can hear me, so i'll hand back to you. >> all right. i want to go back to john when he can hear us. and robert ray, who has been hearing gun fire for half hour. robert. exactly. gun fire - this building here, starting to get smoke coming out from it. we are not seeing flames. here is the deal. this storage unit is engulfed in flames. the owner of the building that we are standing in front of has showed up. he's makes his way into the structure, whether it's gone into the building, it's sitting in there. whether there's a fire inside. it shows you the danger that is going on. you know what, this is a small business owner, these are people whose lives are wrapped up into businesses. there's gunfire, let's get down. you have to be safe, guys.

gotta be safe. you can hear the horns and the fire, and gunshots. every couple of seconds there are gunshots going off. >> where is it coming off, do you have a sense. >> car alarms. the police - it's almost... >> we lost... >> the gun fire, if you see down there, the stop lights. if you see that, do you guys have me? john, you do have me. good. if you look down there at the corner, the gun fire is coming from that structure. that is canfield road, which is two blocks down is where michael brown was shot dead. it seems like that is the pocket where the gunfire is coming from. i mean, it's sporadic, it's 3-4 round. other times just about 20 minutes ago we heard 25-30 rounds pop off. so i just - i don't know how they'll get this under control

tonight. it's persistent, and it's violent, and it is literally this entire street - four significant fires that i can count. i don't think it's a stretch to say the town is on fire. >> how would you describe the police presence? >> so far it seems they are trying to protect the area. they were very concerned with us, telling us to take shelter behind them. there's more police where the gun fire is occurring. i can't tell you the scenario, but they are lining up. i haven't seen them throw anyone to the ground or slam anyone like we saw in august. they are doing what they can at this point to temper the demonstrators, this is not peaceful. i'm not sure what the ind game is for them here. >> stand by. we continue the coverage in a second. i want to go back to john

terrett's picture if we still have it. you see the picture of ferguson, missouri outside the police office. there's a big sign out there saying "season greetings", and christmas decorations on the street in the midst of violence and police - there you see the sign there. season's greetages in ferguson, missouri, after a decision not to indict a police officer for shooting michael brown. our coverage from ferguson, missouri continues after this. don't go

welcome back to breaking news on al jazeera america. i'm john seigenthaler. we are following a dangerous and emotional night in ferguson, missouri. a few hours ago we learnt that the grand jury decided not to ignite darren wilson in the shooting death of an unarmed teen. >> they determined that no probable cause exists to file a charge against darren wilson, and returned a no true billion each of the five in dietments.