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Thousands bid farewell to slain US teenager

– ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’

Just days shy of starting college, Brown was walking down the street after leaving a convenience store where police say he stole a box of cigars when he was shot at least six times by white policeman Darren Wilson.

Accounts of the shooting differ widely, with police alleging Brown was trying to grab Wilson’s gun.

But witnesses, including a friend of Brown’s walking with him, said he was shot as he held his hands in the air in a clear sign of surrender.

“Hands up, don’t shoot” has become the refrain of demonstrators who are demanding an open and transparent investigation – and justice. READ: Missouri deploys National Guard to violence wracked Ferguson.

At night, protests have at times erupted into vandalism and clashes with police, but the intensity appeared to have waned by the time of the funeral.

Meanwhile a survey laid bare the distrust the public harbours toward police in the United States. Brown’s death has reignited fierce debate about relations between police and African Americans, and police tactics.

Critics say police in the US have become increasingly “militarised” and pointed to the police reaction in the nearly two weeks of protests – some violent – that roiled Ferguson, with some accusing them of being heavy-handed.

The USA Today/Pew Research Centre Poll found that 65 percent of respondents said police did “only a fair” or a poor job in holding police officers accountable when misconduct occurs, compared with 30 percent who say they do an excellent or good job.

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On Sunday, Brown’s parents were joined at a demonstration by the father of Trayvon Martin, another unarmed black teen shot to death, by a neighbourhood watchman in 2012 in Florida.

Parallels also have been drawn to the case of Eric Garner, an African American who died on New York’s Staten Island on July 17 after police placed him in a chokehold while trying to arrest him on suspicion of selling illegal cigarettes.

A grand jury in St. Louis is charged with deciding whether to bring charges against the 28-year-old police officer Wilson, who is on paid leave.

During the protests, authorities used battle-grade hardware – including assault rifles, stun grenades and body armour – sparking criticism of an overly aggressive approach.

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