Protests over the shooting of an unarmed black teen in Missouri were boisterous but peaceful on Thursday night as a small number of state police, led by a newly appointed black captain, replaced riot-gear-clad local forces and mingled with the crowd.

Hours earlier, Missouri’s governor Jay Nixon put Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson in charge of security in the town of Ferguson after almost a week of clashes between protesters and police firing tear gas and stun grenades. Dozens of people have been arrested amid looting, shooting and vandalism.

In a tactical U-turn, Johnson, and a handful of black officers without body armor, walked among thousands of protesters filling the streets of the mostly black St. Louis suburb demanding justice for the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

“We just want to be able to come and demonstrate together without the fear of being shot. It’s that simple,” said 53-year-old protester Cat Daniels, an Iraq veteran. “What you see tonight is people coming together. When that kid was killed the hurt and the pain was real.”

Mark Hall, a 21-year-old student, said: “I’m so happy they left us alone so we could prove that all we wanted was the opportunity to exercise our rights peacefully … a chance to be heard.”

In the forecourt of a gas station burned out during this week’s rioting, a cowboy rode a horse and a group of children danced on pavement covered in chalk drawings with the words: “Now the world knows your name, RIP Mike.”
Elsewhere drivers honked horns and waved signs in solidarity, and one group of demonstrators even took to the streets on a car-sized replica of fictional steam train Thomas The Tank Engine.

“It’s because of this young man right here,” Johnson, who grew up in the Ferguson area, told a CNN reporter, as the captain held up a picture of Brown to shouts of approval from protesters around him. “It’s about the justice for everyone.”

The protests have cast a spotlight on racial tensions in greater St. Louis, where civil rights groups have complained in the past that the police racially profiled blacks, arrested a disproportionate number of them, and had racist hiring practices.

Two-thirds of the town’s population of 21,000 is black, while 50 of its 53-strong police force are white.

Brown’s shooting galvanized a national moment of silence and rallies in other U.S. cities.