Threats based on movie taken seriously by police

More about why the guard is going in.

Using a barrage of tear gas and smoke canisters, and firing rubber bullets and deploying hundreds of officers in riot gear to sweep the streets of protesters, the law enforcement officials had the situation largely under control by the time the curfew began at midnight.

Protesters said that the police acted without provocation. But at a news conference about an hour into the curfew, Ronald S. Johnson, the Missouri Highway Patrol captain brought in by the governor to take over security here, blamed “premeditated criminal acts” that were intended to provoke the police for the flare-up of violence.

“We had to act to protect lives and property,” he said.

Captain Johnson said that some demonstrators throughout Ferguson had opened fire on the police, hurled Molotov cocktails and looted and vandalized local businesses.

But it appeared that an attempted attack by some protesters on the shopping center the police have used as a command center prompted the most severe response from the authorities.

Captain Johnson said that at 8:56 p.m., hundreds of protesters had descended upon the area of the command post. Soon, he said, “multiple Molotov cocktails were thrown at police.” The police responded with tear gas.

The captain said that after that episode, the police had received reports that a McDonald’s restaurant had been seized by the demonstrators. Meanwhile, police officers were being targeted with bottles, Captain Johnson told reporters.

“Based on these conditions, I had no alternative but to elevate the level of our response,” he said.