FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Protesters interrupted holiday shopping at major retailers around the St. Louis area Friday to speak out about a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown.

Other Black Friday protests were planned in shopping centers around the nation, as demonstrators sought to catch the attention of consumers looking for good deals.

About two dozen people chanted "no justice, no peace, no racist police" and "no more Black Friday" early Friday after police moved them out of a Wal-Mart in Manchester, a St. Louis suburb.

Officers warned the protesters risked arrest if they didn't move at least 50 feet from the store's entrance, then began advancing in unison until the protesters moved further into the parking lot. The mostly black group of protesters chanted in the faces of the officers — most of whom were white — as shoppers looked on.

"We want to really let the world know that it is no longer business as usual," said Chenjerai Kumanyika, an assistant professor at Clemson University.

Since Monday night's announcement that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, wouldn't be indicted for fatally shooting the unarmed black 18-year-old in August, protests have occurred in Ferguson and across the country. A dozen buildings and some cars were torched in Ferguson on Monday night and dozens were arrested, but the protests have grown more peaceful as the week went on.

Security was heightened at the Wal-Mart in Ferguson on Friday morning, with military Humvees, police cars and security guards on patrol. The store was busy, but there were no protesters.

In contrast to the large demonstrations across the country earlier this week, Friday's seemed relatively brief and thinly attended. At a shopping center in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, a dozen people gathered and chanted "Black lives matter." And in Brooklyn, New York, a "Hands Up, Don't Shop" protest had been scheduled, but no one materialized.

A group of about 30 people rode a bus from New York to join in the St. Louis-area protests. The group normally focuses on "earth justice" issues, but planned "to stand in solidarity with some of the Michal Brown protesters," Nehemiah Luckett said.

"It's low-income communities of color, the poorest of the poor, that get hit by climate change and state violence" through aggressive police forces, said Monica Hunken, another of the New York protesters.

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Associated Press writers Phillip Lucas and David A. Lieb contributed to this report.