Protests entered their fifth and most tense day in Ferguson, Missouri, in response to a police officer on Saturday fatally shooting 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, and it's hard to look at the photos and believe the scene is in the United States.

From heavily armed SWAT officers aiming rifles at unarmed civilians to the use of intimidating armored vehicles — it looks less small-town U.S.A. and more like Egypt's Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring. The behavior of police is similar — albeit less deadly — in the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and a deafening loudspeaker meant to break up the demonstration officers had declared "no longer peaceful."

Various live streams showed a defiant but mostly peaceful crowd chanting and singing songs. But some protesters have indeed been seen, as St. Louis Post-Dispatch's David Carson tweeted, throwing rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails.

On Wednesday evening, the situation escalated as officers over a loudspeaker told the protesters they needed to go home, although they were told their "right to assembly is not being denied." Two reporters were later arrested while working inside a McDonald's restaurant nearby for no apparent reason. (They were both later released, with no charges filed.)

Soon after, the police moved in on the crowd, firing tear gas and rubber bullets, and police officers instructed people to turn off their cameras.

These are the unbelievable images we've seen so far:

A member of the St. Louis County Police Department points his weapon in the direction of a group of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

Police officers keep watch while demonstrators (not pictured) protest the death of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 12, 2014. Police said Brown, 18, was shot in a struggle with a gun in a police car but have not said why Brown was in the car. At least one shot was fired during the struggle and then the officer fired more shots before leaving the car, police said. But a witness to the shooting interviewed on local media has said that Brown had been putting his hands up to surrender when he was killed. The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation into the racially charged case and St. Louis County also is investigating. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

A man watches the police during a clash with protesters Wednesday in Ferguson. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

#Ferguson crowd threw rocks, bottles, Molotov cocktails, saw a gun, right before this stepped off pic.twitter.com/qNngeVLtVL — David Carson (@PDPJ) August 14, 2014

The photos from Wednesday are among other disturbing images taken in recent days, showing militarized police units being used:

The police walk toward a man with his hands raised Monday in Ferguson. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

The police try to disperse a crowd Monday in Ferguson. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

Police officers patrol a street in Ferguson on Monday. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Protesters are forced by the police from the business district into nearby neighborhoods on Monday in Ferguson. Scott Olson/Getty Images



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