A few hundred protesters are gathered at the Baton Rouge Police Department.

The demonstrators gathered Saturday to protest the shooting death of a black man, Alton Sterling, by two white police officers at a convenience store parking lot last week.

The protest was tense earlier as police in riot gear came out, apparently to clear the road so traffic could pass through.

A police spokesman said two firearms were confiscated and several arrests made.

Police later went back inside their headquarters and traffic reopened.

Baton Rouge resident Marie Flowers came to the protest in with her three children. She said people in the north Baton Rouge neighborhood where the shooting happened are frustrated.

Protesters waved homemade signs while drivers honked their support and some stopped by with bottles of water.

(AP)