Vigil Held in Ferguson as Manhunt Continues

Restraint from both sides in Ferguson: Protesters returned to the streets of the city last night after the shooting of two police officers, but calm prevailed, with officers keeping their distance from demonstrators and no arrests made, the LA Times reports. The Rev. Traci D. Blackmon prayed for the injured officers at a candlelight vigil near where they were shot, although she vowed that protests would continue, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The shooters "were not part of the protesting community" and their actions "do not bring us closer to the goals of our movement, which has been rooted in the principles of nonviolent direct action," Blackmon and dozens of other clergy members said in a statement released yesterday.

"There is an added sense of unease due to the events of last night—on both sides," the officer in charge of policing the protest told the LA Times as protesters chanted and officers stood by, not wearing riot gear. The shootings were widely condemned—including by President Obama on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night—and the future of the protest movement now seems uncertain. "To actually have the police injured by gunshots—that is not even a small setback, it is a real setback," Democratic state Rep. Courtney Curtis tells the New York Times. "It takes away the forward momentum the protesters did have." Both officers are now out of the hospital and the search for suspects is still underway, with several people brought in for questioning yesterday but no arrests made, reports Reuters. (More Ferguson, Missouri stories.)