Ferguson trying to get back to normal

New York: The town of Ferguson in the US state of Missouri is trying to get back to normal after two nights of disturbances and rioting following the decision by a grand jury not to indict a white police officer for shooting Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, to death.

Covered in a light blanket of snow, the streets of the St. Louis suburb were practically deserted on Thanksgiving Eve.

The apparent calm, perhaps brought about by the intense cold that has gripped the town of some 21,000, most of them African Americans, came after at least 45 people were arrested during a second night of protests.

There was relative calm on Ferguson's main thoroughfare, South Florissant Avenue, which has been the epicentre of protests since Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson Aug 9.

The fatal shooting of the 18-year-old Brown led to protests and to a national debate on police use of force, particularly against minorities.

Demonstrators, incensed by the grand jury decision, took to the streets of 170 cities in 37 US states Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, except for several police vehicles, the presence of security forces in Ferguson Wednesday stood out by their absence, although in St. Louis three people were arrested when Brown supporters scuffled with police.

Numerous business establishments remained closed.

But some residents came out on the streets to put up Christmas decorations and paint Christmas scenes on the wooden panels protecting the store windows.