ST. LOUIS (AP) — There were only scattered demonstrations around Ferguson during the third night of protests since a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the death of Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old.

Amid a heavy National Guard presence and subfreezing, snowy conditions, the protests on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday didn't come close to matching the intensity of two nights earlier when police cars and a dozen commercial businesses were burned.

___

THE LATEST:

Dozens rallied Wednesday night outside the Ferguson Police Department, but there were no major confrontations with the Guard troops standing watch, some in front of local businesses that were vandalized earlier. City and county police officers were far less noticeable than they were the previous two nights. There was no immediate word on overnight arrests.

Earlier in the day, police in St. Louis locked down City Hall and called in more than 100 extra officers after several protesters rushed into the building yelling "Shame! Shame!" Three people were arrested, including one on an assault charge.

The demonstrators were among of about 200 people who marched through downtown St. Louis and held a mock trial of Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed the unarmed Brown during an Aug. 9 struggle in that St. Louis suburb.

___

NATIONWIDE RESPONSE

Some demonstrations elsewhere across the country Wednesday night appeared more combative than in the St. Louis suburb.

Dozens of marchers were arrested in Los Angeles by police in riot gear, after they refused orders to disperse. There were several reports of vandalized businesses In Oakland, California.

In Minneapolis, a car struck one protester and drove into a crowd of others. Police in Portland, Oregon, used pepper spray and made arrests after hundreds of people stopped bus and light rail traffic.

___

THE BEGINNING: Wilson shot and killed Brown, who was unarmed, shortly after noon in the middle of the street after a scuffle. Brown's body lay there for hours as police investigated and a crowd of angry onlookers gathered. Several days of tense protests in the predominantly black community followed, prompting Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to call in the National Guard. McCulloch decided to present the case to a grand jury.

___

THE ANNOUNCEMENT: Made up of nine white people and three black people, the grand jury met 25 days over three months, and heard more than 70 hours of testimony from 60 witnesses. McCulloch held a prime-time news conference Monday to reveal the decision.

___

THE DOCUMENTS: More than 1,000 pages of grand jury documents were released Monday, including Wilson's full testimony in which he described the scuffle in his patrol car and recognizing the cigars in Brown's hand as possibly being connected to a report of a convenience store robbery. Wilson also said that Brown approached him: "And when he gets about ... 8 to 10 feet away ... all I see is his head and that's what I shot."

___

THE FINAL SAY? The U.S. Justice Department has its own investigation into possible civil rights violations that could result in federal charges for Wilson, but investigators would need to satisfy a rigorous standard of proof. The department also has launched a broad probe into the Ferguson Police Department.