Police in Ferguson, Mo., stopped protesters angry over the shooting of Michael Brown from trying to block a nearby highway. The authorities said three dozen people were arrested as they tried to reach the Interstate 70 highway, but added that the protest was largely peaceful.

Many in Ferguson have demanded the arrest of Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot the unarmed 18-year-old on Aug. 9. Wilson has been on administrative leave since last month.

Thirty-two people were arrested on charges of unlawful assembly, with four people arrested on assault charges. Organizers said the protest was specifically held in the same location as a similar demonstration in 1999.

"Two Fergusons"

On Tuesday, city leaders, mostly white, were heckled by the largely black crowd of residents at Ferguson's first city council meeting since the shooting. "You've lost your authority to govern this community," said John Chasnoff, a St. Louis activist. "You're going to have to step aside peacefully if this community is going to heal."

Many in the audience held up their hands in a gesture that has been used to protest Brown's killing. The teenager was trying to surrender when he was shot by Officer Darren Wilson after being stopped for walking in the middle of the street.

Many residents in Ferguson, which is a majority black city, questioned why the mayor, James Knowles, and five of the six city council members were white. "I heard the mayor say Ferguson doesn't have a race problem,'" said resident Taurean Russell. "There must be two Fergusons."

Before the meeting, council officials announced proposals to reduce the revenue collected from court fines. Critics have said this discriminates against low-income defendants who cannot afford private attorneys and who are often jailed for not paying the fines quickly enough.

But the proposals were drowned out by anger from the audience who said nothing had changed since Brown's shooting. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department announced it was launching a broad investigation into whether there was racial discrimination in the department.

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Meanwhile, CNN on Wednesday released new footage of witnesses who describe the shooting scene:

Two men, shocked at what they saw, describe an unarmed teenager with his hands up in the air as he's gunned down by a police officer.

They were contractors doing construction work in Ferguson, Missouri, on the day Michael Brown was killed. And the men, who asked not to be identified after CNN contacted them, said they were about 50 feet away from Officer Darren Wilson when he opened fire.

An exclusive cell phone video captures their reactions during the moments just after the shooting. "He had his f**n hands up," one of the men says in the video.

The man told CNN he heard one gunshot, then another shot about 30 seconds later.

"The cop didn't say get on the ground. He just kept shooting," the man said.

That same witness described the gruesome scene, saying he saw Brown's "brains come out of his head," again stating, "his hands were up."

The video shows the man raising his arms in the air – just as, he says, Brown was doing when he was shot. The other contractor told CNN he saw Brown running away from a police car.

Brown "put his hands up," the construction worker said, and "the officer was chasing him."

The contractor says he saw Wilson fire a shot at Brown while his back was turned. The men said they didn't see how the confrontation started.

The video, recorded several minutes after the shooting, gives new insight into the case, which has spurred a Justice Department investigation, national debate and protests over authorities' handling of the case.

The construction workers said they don't live in Ferguson and don't know the Brown family, but their account squares with accounts from several other witnesses of the unarmed African-American teen's shooting death on August 9.

Some witnesses say the teenager assaulted the white officer at the outset and tried to grab his gun; other witnesses say Wilson was the aggressor.

A private autopsy conducted for the Brown family showed that Brown had been shot at least six times, including twice in the head.

A grand jury is hearing the case and will determine whether Wilson will face any charges.

Protesters [gathered] near Interstate 70 and outside the police headquarters on Wednesday, pushing for Gov. Jay Nixon to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Brown's death.

Analysts debate video's impact

CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin says the video could play an important role in the case. "You have practically in real time someone discussing what they saw, and that's just good evidence," he said on CNN's "AC360."

Sunny Hostin, a CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, says it's important to note that several witnesses are telling the same story.

"They're saying that he was running from the police officer and that his hands were up," she said. "I don't know what other witness testimony at this point or account we have to hear. The bottom line is having your hands up is the universal sign for surrender."

Neil Bruntrager, general counsel for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, cautioned against rushing to judgment. Witness accounts are important, he said, but need to be evaluated with all the evidence.

"I'm not saying disregard them. I'm saying that we will judge their credibility by all of the evidence, not by one statement, and certainly not by a 15-second video clip," he said.

Originally published by the BBC