Ferguson shootings: two injured as gunfire breaks out at anniversary march for Michael Brown

Two people were shot when gunfire broke out at a march to mark the one-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The pair, at least one of whom was reported to be a police officer, were hit as several hundred people gathered in the US town on West Florissant Street.

One of the victims was described as being in a critical condition in hospital today, police said.

A female police officer who came under "heavy gunfire" returned shots, a spokesman for St Louis County Police said. Early reports suggested at least two unmarked police cars were hit by bullets.

Minutes after the shots were heard, an Associated Press photographer saw a man lying face down, covered in blood, behind a boarded-up restaurant.

Two businesses were also looted on the same street at the time of the shooting, according to local media reports.

Several events were being held in the town to mark the anniversary of Mr Brown's killing. The black teenager's death reignited the debate about how police in the US interact with black communities.

Mr Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr, led a march through town after a crowd of hundreds observed four and a half minutes of silence to symbolise the four and a half hours that the teenager's body lay in the street after he was killed.

Two doves were then released. As protesters passed a permanent memorial for his son, Michael Brown Sr said, "Miss you."

Earlier he had thanked supporters before the march for not allowing what happened to his son to be "swept under the carpet".

Mr Brown was unarmed when he was shot dead by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on August 9 last year.

A grand jury and the US department of justice ruled against prosecuting the police officer, who resigned in November. The shooting prompted campaigners to launch a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.