Police have stepped up security as they brace for the grand jury announcement, with many residents fearing that protests could turn violent if Wilson is not indicted.
Outside the Buzz Westfall Justice Center, where the grand jury has been meeting in the suburb of Clayton, metal interlocking fences and orange plastic barricades sealed off the building and the road in front of the entrance.
St Louis County informed businesses and residents that they were securing buildings in downtown Clayton and temporarily restricting traffic in anticipation that protests could turn violent after the jury’s announcement.
“We will keep these traffic restrictions in place as long as they seem prudent,” it said.
– Churches ready to help –
The jury can either indict Wilson, meaning he could face trial for Brown’s death, or determine there is no case for him to answer.
Wilson reportedly told the jury he acted in self-defense after tussling with Brown. Others say Brown had his hands in the air when he was shot dead, his body left in the street for several hours.
US President Barack Obama has called for calm. Missouri’s governor has declared a state of emergency, and the FBI deployed extra personnel.
Ferguson, the mostly black suburb of 21,000, which has an overwhelmingly white police force and town government, is on a knife edge.
Owners have boarded up shops and businesses on the street where protests were concentrated in August, also braced for a violent fallout.
Pastor Willis Johnson told worshipers at Wellspring Church in Ferguson that the church would offer prayer, educational activities for children, free meals, counseling and group therapy after the announcement.
“We’ll have clinical psychologists and interventionists that’ll be here for those who are remonstrating or just trying to deal with what’s going on,” he told AFP.
Brown’s parents mother Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. have also called separately for restraint.
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