The events remained peaceful

Outside Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis, where the Cardinals hosted the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Championship Series, several dozen protesters stood on the sidewalk, chanting and holding signs. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that fans headed to the game mainly went around the protesters without stopping to look, though a few cheered their efforts. Four days of planned events began Friday afternoon with a march outside the St. Louis County prosecutor's office. Protesters renewed calls for prosecutor Bob McCulloch to charge Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, in the Aug. 9 death of Brown, a black, unarmed 18-year-old. A grand jury is reviewing the case and the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation. "We still are knee deep in this situation," said Kareem Jackson, a St. Louis rap artist and community organizer whose stage name is Tef Poe. "We have not packed up our bags, we have not gone home. This is not a fly-by-night moment. This is not a made-for-TV revolution. This is real people standing up to a real problem and saying, 'We ain't taking it no more.'" On Saturday evening, a smaller group of demonstrators joined Brown's mother at a prayer vigil and protest outside the Ferguson apartment complex where her son was shot and killed two months ago. The group then marched to the Ferguson police department. The events remained peaceful but boisterous gatherings into the night. Vietnam-era peace activists, New York City seminarians and hundreds of fast-food workers bused in from Chicago, Nashville and other cities marched alongside local residents, spurred by a national campaign dubbed Ferguson October. He said the city also will bolster its police presence when the St. Louis Rams host the San Francisco 49ers Monday night — the same day protesters are planning acts of civil disobedience they expect will lead to widespread arrests. The crowd early Saturday was significantly larger than the ones seen at Friday's protests. While the main focus of the march was on recent police shootings, participants also embraced such causes as gay rights and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Police reported no arrests or violence Saturday afternoon and early evening. "I have two sons and a daughter. I want a world for them where the people who are supposed to be community helpers are actually helping, where they can trust those people to protect and serve rather than control and repress," said Ashlee Wiest-Laird, 48, a Baptist pastor from Boston.