All of a sudden a couple of people came up, started chanting louder. Theres a lot of clergy here today and they were urging people to calm down. Trying to push the more loud and more violent speaking protesters back. That is when the cops reacted. Erin, thank you very much for joining us. Our live coverage continues now from the scene with chris hayes live in ferguson. Good evening to you from ferguson, missouri. We just learned in the past hour that all schools will be closed for the remainder of the week, and this is. Why i want to show you if we can the scene as im seeing it unfold here. We are seeing people, one from what had been a staging area, a few moments ago to what up until about three or four minutes ago had been a largely peaceful protest. We saw a number of folks run by. I talked to a woman about two minutes ago. They were walking toward, again, this peaceful protest. They were told by police that things could, quote, gotten bad, and they were turning everyone back. Since then we have seen what youre saying, a police line is form, and in front of that mcdonalds. Police officers outfitted with gas masks. There was up until a few moments ago the alarm we have dom hear a few times, alarm goes off to indicate that things in the streets are bat to get bad. The running has stopped. Were starting to see folks slow down. A few moments ago i was walking up the street, maybe 300 or 400 folks marching up and down, snaking around the cincinnati for the better part of two hours, and we saw an arrest happen right in front of us. At this point, we think that was one of the only arrests tonight. There were two gentlemen arrested. We also saw captain ron johnson, who is in charge of the scene here, but again, up until that point, largely peaceful. The curfew this is the video of the arrest that we shot a few moments ago. As im talking to you again, can see more folks running. Lots of folks running now. Sirens i think we can show you this. Moving down the street, [sirens] this is something we just saw unfolding. We were just we just at the top of the show had gone up in the jeanie to get a look at what is happening and its amazing how things just turn. We were ready to come on care and talk about the peaceful evening. Weed seen this promenade happening here. People walking in a circle and basically yelling, protesting, and chanting, hands up, dont shoot and justice for mike brown and just two minutes before we were coming on with a show whose theme was tensions were holding, things had been very different, the efforts by the police tonight to strike a very different posture in terms of enforcement in revoking the curfew and in closing this off to vehicular traffic here. That would have been successful in creating a kind of space for protests and not confrontation, and then, boom, snap and that has been the case all the way through, a standoff line outside the mcdonalds at ferguson and , the crowd control noise coming through, and we just saw folks run from the area. We have just had cars pull up here. Folks are disbursing down the street here. Its unclear we went up there to try to get a Vantage Point of what was going on. Unclear, about what exactly turned that around at the moment. Now suddenly, suddenly, honestly, in five minutes, it has the sort of atmosphere here just completely flipped, and that has been the case here every night. You have a situation youre now looking at a live picture of the protesters walking down the streets arm and arm. Theres folks coming back towards us as they wake walk away from the police who came out in riot gear and formed the line. Im now seeing pull up one of those familiar large tactical vehicles that has become so familiar in the images that have been beamed out across the country and the world. Its now driving towards us. The sirens are on. There appears to be someone someone on the top. Folks are walking back. You can see folks are walking away from the people on top, both in riot gear, and someone telling me to f police. Theyre shooting gas. That is unconfirmed. We dont smell any of that and i think we would have heard some smelled it. So, none of the really heavy crowd control methods have been brought out as of yet. The Vantage Point is difficult to as sir tape from where we are ascertain from where we are as to what flipped things around. The police formed a riot kind of cordon. We have folks walking past us right now on their way back. I want to just keep you in mind here. We have been out here since the live show at 7 00 p. M. Central, and hey, hey, hey. Watch out. You know what . Theyre throwing rocks now. We are telling a true story. People are angry, man. Theyre really angry. Were trying to. Few rocks chucked at us. Were fine, were fine. People are now retreating away from the Police Something else we have seen more tonight as well, folks wearing masks. Thats what were covering. [inaudible] gentleman behind me is telling me this is a civil rights movement, not just mike brown. All people. What happened down there . They formed a line, the cops formed a line down there . Obviously its a pretty fluid situation right here. Folks are now falling back, and now well, you heard that. So, what happened in tell me what happened . [inaudible] they told you to disburse. Yes. All of a sudden. What precipitated it . Nothing. He said nothing precipitated it. Youre saying the cops just turned on a dime . Edit had been pretty relaxed out here, and then all of a sudden they showed up in a line. Whats that . [inaudible] saying they treat us like animals. People are really frustrated. Hands up, dont shoot. Chris, looks like one of the another line coming down now as people move away, as people move away from the approximate where they have been disbursed. People walking down the street. United we stand, divide we fall, theyre chanting, with an american flag. The scene here, just honestly, 15 minutes ago, as this sort of calm, but it is the case now here and has been the last eight nights that things can go from quiet and calm to incredibly tense. People are angry. When police sort of adopt the posture of crowd control and particularly riot gear, things escalate very quickly. These gentlemen craig has a guy right here who is just coming down youre up by the mcdonalds. What can you tell us about what you saw . Saw guys throwing water at the police. The police was holding their ground. But the protesters were just keeping up the rowdy guys from crossing the line. The protesters were trying to keep the rowdy guys from throwing water and keeping them back. When did the situation turn . We the situation never turned. The police never moved forward. Never moved forward. Theres one guy in the crowd dont grab the microphone. One guy in the crowd coming close to the cops with a sign. People the crowd started pulling him back, actually pushed him over, and then helped him up, and he kept going toward the cop. And finally he came back and thats when everybody locked arms and started walking back. No tear gas. No. No. See any arrests . No arrests. And where is everyone going now . Just marching to the end and turn around and coming back. Thats all we been doing all night. Chris, it seems like at least at this point that things have calmed down. This United States in the streets every day. Year on live television. Yeah, yeah, and everybody need to know that. Its crazy that not just here in ferguson, i came up from milwaukee, wisconsin, came down here from milwaukee, wisconsin to support this cause, because it need to be known. They killing us in the street every day. This aint ferguson aint the only place. Its happening all over the United States. Were you here last night . I wasnt here last night, no. Actually, we did some last night on the news, we just came from little rock, arkansas. We came to support this movement. Were you here last night . I was. Tonight compared to last night . About the same, but the crowd is a little rowdier tonight but everything rowdier than last night. A little bit. They got a front to got to the police line up there. The curfew lifted. Has that had any sort of measurable impact . So far, i would say so. The walking. I think theyre trying to wear is down by walking us out. Come closer. Come closer. What were you saying . Its obvious lifting the curfew is a blatant attempt to justify their actions bringing in the National Guard and saying we did nothing to provoke them. There wasnt a can you fume this is my first night here. Where are you from. Born and raid right here in st. Louis, missouri. Are you from ferguson no, raised within the city limits. The protests tonight, up until 10 00, 15 minutes ago, seemed to be largely peaceful. We had not heard the sirens that had become well, as i say that, we hear the sirens now. Could derelated to the fact up until 1015 minute wiz depends have riot a kent state giant line of riot police up there with us. My colleague, chris hayes, is standing by. Chris. So now were seeing the situation there where we have got what did this gentlemen tell you . They were talking about where theyre from. The scene tonight. This gentleman here are you a journalist . Okay. So i just just turned on a dime like that. One of the guys they brought the riot police out again. And there was no theres nothing that precipitated. Just came out of nowhere. Nothing provoked the actions of the riot police. They said, disburse, like our First Amendment ceased to exist. What was happening before that . Standing there in a line, people standing together and talking. Chris, as you know, one edict that came down tonight was this directive that folks had to keep moving. So the thing they started saying this morning, this morning, what happened here was they basically cleared out the quick trip this morning. Started around 10 00 a. M. This morning, and they cleared out the quick trip. That was of course the site of the burping on the first night, and 10 00 a. M. I was out there, and the situation was that basically you had an order from cops, a dozen cops, that came out and told people they could walk but could not stop moving. They had to keep moving at all times, and that was the directive that started 10 00 a. M. This morning. That was continued through the day and the laos three hours people have been walking and circulating. Something changed quickly. Eye witnesses we spoke to, falling back, saying they didnt know what prompted that. But all of a sudden you can see there, thats a live stream were bringing you of the situation with the police now out in the familiar riot gear. We have a whole bunch of people who again it was not a particularly charged atmosphere. It was not didnt feel like a threatening atmosphere. Not only not particularly charged but had been a concerted effort made. We were at one of the organizing rallies, so to speak, earlier, and the number of the speakers, the organizers, said they wanted to make sure that tonight was different. They wanted to make sure that tonight the Peaceful Protesters had their voices heard, versus the folks, the looters and rioters who dominated the headlines the past few days. Out bit a testament to the stories youre hearing and the narrative today, craig, was, basically, this kind of distinction between the sort of large majority Peaceful Protesters and the small cadre of troublemakers. One thing that overlooks is the way that police play into that, and when reliably its been the case when police take on a posture that is more aggressive, take on a posture in the riot gear mode, youre getting a very, very intense, charged response. And you just saw it here. People running back and chucking rocks. Folks perhaps not familiar with the geography of where were broadcasting from right now. This is a block two blocks away from where that deadly shooting happened. This was, as you have been here from the beginning, this had been one over to gathering spots until it was moved. And now right now what were seeing is it appears as if theres a group of maybe 40 or 50 folks who are gathering, chanting and who are angry. Theres 4050 folks at the corner. Cantfield drive is the block that mike brown was shot and killed on in an apartment complex down there. And strangely, i have to say, after the kind of Police Monitoring and Police Presence we have seen all night, theres a huge police prepares. Were, i should note, kindbehind inside the police cord online theres a kind of security checkpoint. We have taken up a location inside the checkpoint. Theres a lot of activity at the checkpoint. Theres nothing as far as i can tell behind me where everybody had been disbursed to theres another checkpoint up the road. The approach for the police tonight was to take up positions as checkpoints on both sort of north and south of this situation. I want to bring in here professor steffen bradley. Professor bradley has been working with youth here, organizing, protesting, and what do you make of what just happened . I hate to say this. The police force was antagonizing in this situation. Theres no other way to put it ive been out here for a while now, and everybody was tense but nobody was going crazy. I hear the sirens from the police and everybody starts the attitude changing entirely, and so its a situation where theres occupations the ferguson occupation is driving people crazy. I should note i dont we dont have Police Spokes people here to say anything. I did not lay eyes on never. In responsible fairness to them, its possible that something happened. There was some act of provocation. We do not know that. We can say we just talked to craig was interviewing four or five people who were saying, just changed on a dime. And that would not be unprecedented. Theres been lots of situations where that happened. Youre absolutely right. One thing that people, when they look back on this, the word that might come to mind is paternalism. You can stay in your house now, you can leave your house now, you can walk on this street or that street but dont walk on this street. You can have a curfew, dont have to have a curfew. This is too much for any one good person to take. I think if captain johnson were here, another member of the police department, would say, this is all efforts at maintaining the peace. Thats what were charged with doing, making sure there arent theres not incidents of looting. What do you say to that . I say that when we when were finally able to talk to these young people. Well find out how traumatized they are for having helicopters flying around their homes at night, for having the smell of tear gas when they go to sleep at night, if they can go to sleep. These things are problematic and have lasting effects. So as if things werent bad enough with the medium income of the people, as if the School District wasnt having problems, as if there werent other kinds of problems that were happening in the community. This is an additional kind of problem, and you only hope for the best. Theres some rocks headed in our direction at the moment. Were right now its about 10 20 right now. Two journalists split while trying to back up just handed me a report, guns aimed at the journalists on the ground. Comes from amanda from msnbc. Com. Thank you, craig forks handing me that. So, once again, we have already seen a photojournalist getting arrested today. You and i, professor bradley, just talking not 20 minutes ago i mean, i cannot emphasize to people enough the shift in the mood. It is like a charge goes through the air. Theres this sort of feeling of expectation right between the lightning and thunder, where everybody is waiting for the boom and you can almost convince yourself in the interval between the two, the calm and then the boom happens and you recognize it, you havent been Walking Around calm and folks here what you said you could feel it feels like traumatic everywhere you go on the streets here. Absolutely. Absolutely. So this is in my mind, this not the america that anybody envisioned. Nobody envisioned this happening in the United States. Nobody envision thread being helicopters around and im walking down the street, recognize somebody i saw from 1015 years ago, how are you doing some employs telling me to keep moving. This is strange these three the ferguson people pay for these streets. We cant stand own the streeted and catch up . Theres a lot going to join hope the whole world sees this. The whole world does see this, particularly because the apparently the state highway principal or the Law Enforcement out here chose to make the stand right at the the media has been staged here. People said something to me id like to get your response. Youre local here. You have been organizing and talking withing you here. With youth here. Theres a sense that what is driving this is the presence of the media. The presence of the media i dont know if we can gate shot of the Police Chopper large tactical vehicle just drove past us. A large tactical vehicle just drove past us. Just to few minutes ago with this sort of familiar lrad crowd control noise. And tell me that. Respond to that. There are people who say, basically, Media Presence here is essentially been fuel for the fire. There was fire before you came. And that doesnt make sense. Had not the media been here let me tell you something. Had not those journalists been arrested, been arrested and in trouble, maybe the world wouldnt have known about this in the same way. Zuo need the media here to cover this, cover it the right way. People causing trouble, all 2530 of those people is that what you think the number is . I didnt think is a its as much as you see on certain news channel. Some media are really paying attention to the looters. Most of the people, you saw, when theyre walking up and down the street, are peaceful people. Nobody understands how this small am of people gets so much attention. One of the thing is want to emphasize i want to bring a tape craig do you have a report here . What you just said, an update from a producer on the ground two blocks up. Police remain in a defensive position, three to five deep across west ferguson. Emergency vehicles at the ready behind them. Citizens are forming human chains to walk back the violent protesters. Police have batons and shields and gas masks. They are armed, out, but the crowd is shouting back. Mike brown cant move back. And apparently a few moments ago everybody started clapping because they worked together to diffuse the situation that you can about two blocks up. You can see right there, the sort of intensity of that confrontation that is happening down there. You and i have been talking and youre from ferguson you live here. We have been talking about the surreal charged intensity of what its been for eight days and theres a sense in which its true the media comes in and we show images of tear gas and theres sort of this this kind