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Protests over Ferguson, peaceful and violent, continue for second day

People protesting the Ferguson, Mo., grand jury decision took to the streets in cities across the United States for a second day Tuesday, showing that the racially charged case has inflamed tensions even hundreds of miles from the predominantly black St. Louis suburb.

Peaceful demonstrators marched in Seattle and disrupted traffic in St. Louis and Cleveland. Rallies also formed in New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, and elsewhere.

In Washington, D.C., one group lay on the ground to stage a ‘‘die-in’’ in front of Metro police headquarters. The protesters planned to occupy various buildings in the district over 28 hours.

For many, the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson recalled other troubling encounters with law enforcement.

The refrain ‘‘Hands up, don’t shoot’’ became a rallying cry over police killings nationwide.

Here is a look at some of Tuesday’s demonstrations:

In St. Louis, protesters disrupted downtown traffic for several hours by blocking major intersections, an interstate highway, and a Mississippi River bridge connecting the city to Illinois.

Riot police arrested several demonstrators who sat in the middle of Interstate 44 near the Edward Jones Dome. They used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

Demonstrators also swarmed the steps of the federal courthouse, overturning barricades while chanting, ‘‘You didn’t indict. We shall fight.’’

Protesters shut down I-44 at Grand Avenue in both directions.AP

In Seattle, hundreds of high school students walked out of classes and rallied at the University of Washington or marched to the downtown federal courthouse.

The protest came a day after demonstrators threw canned food, bottles, and rocks, and police responded with pepper spray and flash-bang grenades. Five people were arrested. Demonstrators included the rapper Macklemore.

A car plowed through the crowd at a Ferguson rally in South Minneapolis, Minnesota.AP/Associated Press

In Minneapolis, a rally turned scary when a car hit, and then drove through, several protesters.

Several hundred people gathered Tuesday afternoon near a police outpost to show solidarity with Brown.

Helicopter footage from KSTP-TV showed the car pushing through protesters and driving over at least one. A woman suffered minor injuries.

In Oakland, Calif., police braced for more demonstrations, and a cleanup continued after scores of people hurled bottles, broke windows, set small fires, and vandalized a police car Monday night.

Forty-three people were arrested in the melee that escalated after some protesters shut down traffic on a major highway, Police Chief Sean Whent said Tuesday.

He said three officers were injured, including one who suffered a cut to the head and a minor concussion after being hit by a brick.

‘‘We will not tolerate assaults on our staff or vandalism and destruction,’’ he said.

Protesters blocked an intersection in Los Angeles, California.Lucy Nicholson/REUTERS/REUTERS

In Cleveland, several hundred people marched down a freeway exit ramp to block rush-hour traffic while protesting the Missouri developments and Saturday’s fatal shooting of a 12-year-old Cleveland boy by an officer.

‘‘The system wasn’t made to protect us,’’ said one of the protesters, 17-year-old Naesha Pierce, who stayed up until 3 a.m. watching television coverage from Ferguson. ‘‘To get justice, the people themselves have to be justice.’’

Police diverted traffic but took no action against the protesters as they sat in a major intersection.

Demonstrators block the Memorial Shoreway in Cleveland, Ohio.Mark Duncan/AP/Associated Press

They were demonstrating after the death of Tamir Rice, who was shot when police responded to a 911 call about a gun at a playground. Police later determined the boy had a pellet gun that looked like a real firearm.

In New York, police noted that protests have been large but mostly peaceful, with just two arrests, including that of a man who threw a jar of fake blood that struck Police Commissioner William Bratton and his security detail.

New York protesters knock over police barricades in Union Square.Peter Foley/EPA