After a day of peaceful protests in Ferguson, Missouri, chaos erupted Friday night and Saturday morning as looters robbed local businesses and police stood back.

Tensions and a string of protests began in Ferguson 9 after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old African-American named Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Although police say the teen reached for the officer's weapon, several witnesses say Brown was shot execution style while he was trying to surrender.

Since then, angry community members have staged protests calling for justice and the end of police brutality. Opportunists, however, have taken advantage of the situation by looting local stores in the area.

Merchants complained that police, who were heavily criticized days earlier for using overly aggressive police tactics, were not doing enough to enforce the law.

"You still have a job to do now, and now you're not doing your job," Tanya Littleton said of police after thieves broke into her beauty supply shop, stealing hundreds of dollars of merchandise, according to CNN.

Fox2Now.com also reported that looters were met with little police resistance Friday night, forcing small business owners to protect their stores using their own guns,.

"I think the first message is to remind all law enforcement that they are hired to serve and protect and if they're going to sit back and watch looting, they're not serving us; they're not protecting us," Pastor Robert White said.

One Fox News reporter tweeted that police cars were spotted driving past some of the stores being looted and did not respond.

However, while police noticeably stood back, protesters stepped in to stop the looting by physically blocking looters from entering into stores.

"As a store burns, cars do donoughts in the street, people loot, others stop them & the city turns chaotic police say nothing & sit in trucks," reported USA TODAY news reporter Yamiche Alcindor from on the scene via Twitter.

"there are a few rogue dudes who want to fuck shit up most residents trying to stop, stop looting stop violence," tweeted reporter Amy K. Nelson.

On Thursday, the St. Louis County Police Department relinquished their policing authority in Ferguson as state troopers took over security in the primarily Black St. Louis suburb, reported Bloomberg News.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced Thursday that the multi-force policing will now be under the command of Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who is also an African American resident in the area.

"Today is the day that we renew our commitment to bring peace to the families of Ferguson," said Gov. Nixon during a press conference, reports Time. "Operationally the patrol will be the lead agency when it comes to security."