Buildings and cars were set on fire in Ferguson, Missouri, as angry protests broke out after authorities announced that a grand jury voted not to indict a white officer in the August shooting death of an unarmed black teen.

Overhead flights were restricted and police fired tear gas as rioters took to the streets of Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, looting shops and burning cars.

ferguson violence
A man is silhouetted against a burning building in Ferguson after a grand jury returned no indictment in the police shooting of Michael Brown Jim Young/Reuters
ferguson in flames
A car is driven past a burning building in Ferguson Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
ferguson grand jury
A man watches a burning building in Ferguson after the grand jury decision Jim Young/Reuters
ferguson grand jury
A demonstrator celebrates as a business burns following the grand jury announcement in the Michael Brown case in Ferguson Scott Olson / Getty Images

Angry crowds gathered around the police department in Ferguson after the grand jury said there was no probable cause to charge officer Darren Wilson with any crime in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

St Louis police reported heavy gunfire in the area near where Brown was shot and killed on 9 August. Shop windows were smashed, and fires devoured buildings including a beauty shop and a pizza parlour.

ferguson grand jury
A man walks past a burning police vehicle during clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson Jewel Samad/AFP
ferguson grand jury
Protesters attack a police car following the grand jury decision in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson Jewel Samad/AFP
ferguson in flames
Vehicles burn at a used car dealer in Ferguson Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
ferguson in flames
Smoke fills a laundromat as a strip mall burns in Ferguson Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
ferguson grand jury
A man runs out of a shop with packets of chips and a bottle of soft drink Aaron P Bernstein/Getty Images

Police fired volleys of tear gas and flash-bang canisters in response to the protests, a repeat of similar unrest that erupted in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

Officials urged tolerance and assured residents that the National Guard would provide security at critical facilities like fire houses, police stations and utility substations.

ferguson seasons greetings
Police form a line in the street under a "seasons greetings" sign after a grand jury returned no indictment in the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson Jim Young/Reuters
ferguson grand jury
Police stand guard as violence breaks out following the grand jury decision in Ferguson Aaron P Bernstein/Getty Images
ferguson grand jury
A police officer aims a weapon following the grand jury decision in Ferguson Jewel Samad/AFP
ferguson grand jury
Police take up position during clashes with protesters in Ferguson Jewel Samad/AFP

Brown's family immediately urged a non-violent response to the grand jury's decision.

ferguson grand jury
Michael Brown's mother Lesley McSpadden (L) and other protesters react after hearing the grand jury decision in the fatal shooting of her son in Ferguson Jewel Samad/AFP

US President Barack Obama called for protesters to remain peaceful and for police to show restraint.

"We are a nation built on the rule of law and so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make," Obama told a televised news conference.

Related