It was a starkly different scene in Ferguson, Missouri, Thursday night. Gone were the us-versus-them standoffs, the military-style fatigues, sniper rifles, and armored vehicles.

In place of those unsettling images we saw thousands of residents marching peacefully behind several Missouri State Highway Patrol officers in regular police uniforms, including the new man in charge, Capt. Ron Johnson.

"I'm not afraid to be in this crowd today, that's why I walk up front," Johnson said, according to tweets from Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery — one of two journalists arrested and assaulted by SWAT officers in a nearby McDonald's the night before.

"Thank you so much for coming out here tonight," woman says to Johnson, almost in tears pic.twitter.com/Q6kS96bCM4 — Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014

"I've assigned all police assigned to this detail to take their gas masks off," Johnson reportedly added as the demonstrators continued down West Florissant Street — past the place where Michael Brown was shot on Saturday, toward the QuickTrip that had been looted and burned a few nights before.

Highway patrol captain Ron Johnson is leading protesters on a march through Ferguson. A corner turned? pic.twitter.com/ewytjhz2uP — Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) August 14, 2014

Thousands of demonstrators peacefully march down a street with members of the St. Louis County Police and Missouri Highway Patrol Thursday, Aug. 14. Image: Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

It was a lesson in how a department sets the tone as it polices — either as an occupying force fighting an enemy, as was seen Wednesday night through a haze of tear gas, or as members of a community in crisis.

Though "no justice, no peace" remained the protesters' mantra, tensions ran much cooler than they had the night before. Interactions between police and protesters appeared respectful.

While protests had started peacefully in daylight Wednesday, a heavily-armed SWAT presence quickly descended, training military rifles on demonstrators from the tops of armored vehicles in a scene that looked like a city under military occupation.

“I’ve got a son that deals with the same thing.” -Capt Ron Johnson talking to angry protesters. #Ferguson. pic.twitter.com/bXHaot6x83 — Ben Kesling (@bkesling) August 14, 2014

As night fell, the situation deteriorated swiftly as officers tried to disperse the crowd. Projectiles were thrown, and police came down hard on the protestors of Ferguson, firing tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades well into the night and targeting the media, all as the world watched on social media.

By contrast, on Thursday, an Instagram video showed Capt. Johnson approaching a demonstrator with a bullhorn — only to make sure he knew which way the march was going. This was followed by a civil exchange in which the man said he and his group were going to the QuickTrip before ending the march.

Lowery also tweeted that Capt. Johnson said "media staging areas" would be provided for reporters covering the events, a night-and-day difference from the media-under-siege pictures that emerged from the town the previous night.

War veterans, too, protested the outsized response from the previous night — such as Tyson Manker, a soldier at Thursday's march who soon became a Twitter star.

Iraq veteran Tyson Manker, 33: "I don't want to see tanks on American streets, period." #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/MIjwbp11dR — Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 14, 2014

Protesters eventually ended up at Greater St. Mark's church, while some remained at the QuikTrip, where a group calling themselves "food not bombs" dispersed free food and water to the crowd.

Meanwhile, crowds gathered in cities across the nation for a moment of silence. They raised their hands to protest the killings of Brown, who was 18 and unarmed when he was shot. The names of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin and other African-American victims of gun violence were read out.

This is a million times more effective than tweeting while you're on your couch "@jonathanellis: Broadway NYC https://t.co/VgdbqeaXzr" — Young Pharaoh (@trayXO_) August 14, 2014

Images of demonstrations poured in from Chicago, Oakland, Portland, Nashville, Dallas, New York City, and others across the U.S.

Their refrain was one that has been repeated since Brown was killed: "Hands up, don't shoot."