Tags: Missouri

Hundreds of civil rights activists and protesters applauded speakers, preachers and poets on Sunday in a an arena in St. Louis, Missouri, capping a weekend of protests against police violence that included 17 arrests earlier in the day.

Missouri authorities are drawing up contingency plans and seeking intelligence from U.S. police departments on out-of-state agitators, fearing that fresh riots could erupt if a grand jury does not indict a white officer for killing a black teen.

A police officer was shot on Saturday in the area around the strife-hit U.S. city of Ferguson, Missouri, but his injuries were not life-threatening, the Missouri Department of Public Safety said.