Tension is gripping Milwaukee as officials hope a late night curfew imposed on teenagers will deter another outbreak of rioting that hit the US midwestern city the past two nights in response to the police shooting of an armed black man.
Late on Monday afternoon, dozens of police, some in riot gear, erected fencing to cordon off Sherman Park, the centre of the neighbourhood that was the scene of the weekend shooting and subsequent disturbances.
Nearby, about 100 people held a picnic in a grassy area.
"Things got a little bit quieter last night, although there were still disturbances," Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker told Fox News, "but our hope is tonight things will finally quiet down thanks in large part to the leadership of many pastors and other church leaders in the Milwaukee community."
As the sun went down, there was notably less foot traffic in the neighbourhood ahead of the 10pm (local time) curfew.
"There is a curfew that will be more strictly enforced tonight for teenagers," Mayor Tom Barrett told a news conference. "So parents, after 10 o'clock your teenagers better be home or in a place where they're off the streets."
Barrett renewed his call for state officials to release a video of the Saturday night shooting in hopes it would convince angry protesters that deadly force against Sylville K Smith, 23, was justified.
Milwaukee has become the latest American city to be gripped by violence over the past two years in response to fatal police confrontations with black men.
Milwaukee is also one of the most segregated cities in America, with a large concentration of unemployed black men in the inner city separated from the mostly white suburbs.
Such inequality has afflicted many US cities as a result of the loss of manufacturing jobs over the past three decades.
Police say Smith was stopped on Saturday afternoon for behaving suspiciously and that he then fled on foot. Smith was carrying a stolen handgun he refused to drop before he was killed, police said.
The shooting led to a first night of violence in which gunshots were fired, six businesses were torched and 17 people were arrested. Police reported four officers were injured and police cars were damaged before calm was restored.
On Sunday night, when police in riot gear faced off with protesters throwing bottles and bricks, four officers were injured and one other person suffered a gunshot wound, police said. Three police squad cars were damaged and 14 people were arrested, authorities said.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker activated the National Guard on Sunday in case more trouble flared, but despite the violence, police said the guardsmen were not called in.
