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If Ottawa police feared that Tuesday night’s vigil for Michael Brown — the unarmed 18-year-old black man shot and killed last August by police in Ferguson, Missouri — might turn violent, their fears were groundless.

The vigil, which attracted about 200 people despite near-zero temperatures, was peaceful, orderly and, most of the time, almost eerily silent.

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There were no angry chants or raised fists; just the muffled sound of mittened hands intermittently applauding a succession of speakers, a drummer, and an impromptu a cappella singer.

The vigil was in response to Monday’s decision by a U.S. grand jury not to indict the police officer who shot and killed Brown. That sparked rioting in the streets of Ferguson, with at least a dozen buildings badly damaged or destroyed.

In Ottawa, the crowd gathered at 6 p.m. at a small plaza at the corner of Sussex Drive and York Street, close to the U.S. Embassy. Police blocked off Sussex and part of York, but were otherwise virtually invisible.