TWO police officers were shot and wounded in Ferguson, Missouri, early today morning as demonstrators gathered to celebrate the resignation of police chief Thomas Jackson.

The shots were fired in front of the police department hours after the resignation was announced.

Armed officers in riot gear circled the police station and more than a dozen squad cars blocked the street after the shooting.

Mr Jackson is the latest city official to quit in the wake of a scathing federal government report detailing bias within the police department and court system.

He was the sixth employee to resign or be sacked after a Justice Department report found a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias in Ferguson’s police department.

A separate Justice Department report released the same day cleared white police officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges in the fatal shooting of black teen Michael Brown, whose death sparked huge demonstrations across the US. Mr Wilson has since resigned from the police force.

Some protesters were chanting before the shooting that they weren’t satisfied with the resignations of Mr Jackson and city manager John Shaw.

The two officers are not expected to have long-term injuries, St Louis county police chief Jon Belmar reported.

He said that one had been shot in his face, just below his right eye, and the bullet lodged behind his ear. The other officer was shot in his right shoulder, with the bullet exiting his back.

Mr Belmar noted that the shooting could easily have resulted in two deaths.

“We could have buried two police officers next week over this,” he said.

Several high-profile deaths of unarmed men and youths by police officers have stirred nationwide calls for greater police accountability.

Protesters in the Atlanta area added their voices to the chorus on Wednesday after an unarmed, naked black man was fatally shot by an officer responding to a complaint of a suspicious person at a block of flats.