Ferguson protesters meet with stronger police resistance

Protesters in Ferguson, Missouri vowed they would continue to protest, and on the second day, their rage was met with a fierce police resistance.

Demonstrations spread right across the US, after a white police officer escaped charges for killing black teenager Michael Brown Jr.

And the officer who fired the deadly shot said he wouldn't change a thing.

As parts of Ferguson still smoulder, authorities are taking no chances of a repeat of last night's violence. 

More than 2000 National Guard troops arrived to back up police. Their huge, and very visual presence, kept a lid on the anger for most of the time.

The fury has spread to other US cities with thousands taking to the streets from Los Angeles right across to New York. In Minneapolis, a near tragedy when a car drove into the crowd.

Police officer Darren Wilson, now cleared of any crimes, spoke publicly for the first time, telling how the unarmed 18-year-old Mr Brown attacked him and tried to get his gun.

"At that time I give myself a mental trigger and I ask myself can I shoot this guy, legally can I? And the question I answered myself was, I have to. If I don't, he will kill me, if he gets to me," he told ABC news in the US.

This evening, he is back in hiding for his own protection.

Yesterday's rioting resulted in more than a dozen businesses and a church being burned to the ground. 

This service station hadn't even opened yet. Now it's a total loss. 

"Most of the businesses that were hit are local businesses. The gentleman who was going to open this store lives here. So there are a lot of people out of work. And now they have nothing," local Terri Willits said.