Protests cool in Ferguson after top US law official visits

FERGUSON: Protests in the strife-torn town of Ferguson cooled late Wednesday after the top US law enforcement official pledged a full investigation into the slaying of teenager Michael Brown that kicked off days of racially charged unrest.

Police said six people were arrested, down from 47 on Tuesday, and that demonstrators refrained from throwing projectiles and firing weapons as they had in the worst moments of the rioting in this St. Louis suburb.

Earlier Wednesday Attorney General Eric Holder met with the parents of Brown, a black unarmed 18-year-old who was shot dead by a white police officer on August 9. Holder promised the family in a private meeting there would be a "fair and independent" inquiry into the death of their son.

Before the meeting, Brown´s mother viewed her son´s body at a local morgue for the first time since he died after being shot six times.

A grand jury was to begin hearing witnesses to Brown´s killing, with widespread calls for the police officer to be put on trial for the fatal shooting.

Brown´s remains are undergoing three separate autopsies -- by local authorities, the family and Holder´s Justice Department.

Holder also met with the Missouri governor, the state´s two senators and two area lawmakers.

The attorney general, who is African-American, told Ferguson residents he had assigned the justice department´s "most experienced agents and prosecutors" to investigate Brown´s death, amid local suspicion that police will protect one of their own. "Our investigation is different," Holder said. "We´re looking for possible violations of federal civil rights statutes."

Police say that Brown was rushing at the officer, but other witnesses say the teen -- who was about to start vocational college -- had his hands up, ready to surrender.

Holder said he hoped his visit "will have a calming influence on the area."