Nearly 50 arrested in Ferguson

Forty-seven protesters were arrested Tuesday night, as of 2 a.m. in Ferguson, Mo., according to Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol. 

At a nightly press conference, Johnson, who is leading security in the town, said three handguns were seized, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

{mosads}The protests came the night before Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to visit the area to be briefed on the civil rights investigation the FBI is leading. 

Despite the arrests, Johnson said the protests appeared to be smaller on Tuesday night, and there seemed to be a change in tone.

“Protest crowds were a bit smaller, and they were out earlier,” he said, according to reports. 

Johnson said protesters resisted firing weapons or throwing Molotov cocktails Tuesday night. 

In an op-ed written in the local newspaper on Tuesday, Holder said the Justice Department would respect the right of people to protest and the media to cover the events, but “violence cannot be condoned.” He called for protesters to condemn the actions of looters and vandals. 

The 11-day-old protests are the result of the police shooting of Michael Brown, 18, on Aug. 9. 

The Washington Post reported that 59 people were arrested a night earlier — five of them were journalists. Of those arrested on Monday night, forty-one were from Missouri.