Nearly 2,000 National Guard troops descended on Ferguson in Missouri last night to help police deal with a second night of rioting and arson following a grand jury's ruling that it would not indict a policeman who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager.

18-year-old Michael Brown died back in August and the officer who killed him, Darren Wilson, told American television that his conscience was clear. However, for many American citizens in Ferguson and other cities, the decision not to put Wilson on trial has been met with disbelief and anger.

President Barack Obama said that his attorney general promised a federal probe into the shooting of Brown in August would be rigorous.

Still, tensions were high last night and a police car was torched near City Hall in Ferguson. Police fired smoke bombs and tear gas to scatter protesters. One crowd made it to near police headquarters in the city and scuffled with officers, who doused them with pepper spray.

The crowds were smaller and more controlled than on Monday, when about a dozen businesses were torched and others were looted amid rock-throwing and sporadic gunfire from protesters and volleys of tear gas fired by police.

More than 60 people were arrested then, compared with 44 arrests on Tuesday night, police said.

Video below shows some of the activity that took place last night - not just from Ferguson, but also Oakland, California, where protesters also took to the streets to state their anger at the grand jury ruling in Missouri.

Protesters torch a police car

Police respond to car burning

Darren Wilson interview

The Ferguson police officer, who shot Michael Brown, gave his first public interview yesterday to ABC News - he said he could not have done anything differently to prevent what happened.

Aerial footage of police presence

Aerial footage from Ferguson shows the police car being set alight and the huge police presence.

Looting in Oakland

Stores were damaged and looted in Oakland, California after a second night of protests against the Missouri grand jury decision - a worrying sign of such activities spreading beyond Ferguson.

Aerial footage of protesters in Oakland

Protesters in Oakland also briefly shut down two major motorways.