BEIJING, March 13 -- With two police officers being wounded by gunshots in Ferguson, Missouri, the antagonism between U.S. police and ethnic minorities was highlighted again in the country, where widespread discrimination against the black community existed among law enforcement.

Two police officers were shot and wounded during a protest outside the Police Department in Ferguson early Thursday morning, when they were standing in front of the protestors. A manhunt has been underway for the shooter.

The protest started peacefully Wednesday, hours after the resignation of Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, who became the third high-profile Ferguson official that has resigned in the past week after the Justice Department released a report criticizing the Ferguson Police Department's bias against minorities.

The U.S. Department of Justice issued on Wednesday a report stating that widespread racial bias had led to the abuse of African-Americans by Ferguson police and court.

The report also found local authorities in Ferguson approached law enforcement as a way to systematically "generate revenue" and excessively used unjustified force.

As part of the latest leadership shakeup, the city manager of Ferguson John Shaw stepped down Tuesday after the City Council voted 7 to 0 to approve a "mutual separation agreement" with him. Municipal Judge Ronald Brockmeyer also resigned on Monday.

Ferguson, the suburbs of St. Louis County in the U.S. state of Missouri, has been at the center of racial tensions nationwide since Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in August last year.

Widespread protests erupted last year after local grand juries declined to indict police officers involved in the Ferguson incident and the choking death of black man Eric Garner on Staten Island in New York City.

Garner, 43, died in July last year after police officers attempted to arrest him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes on Staten Island. A cellphone video showed that one white police officer placed his arm around Garner's neck in an apparent chokehold.

As President Barack Obamaput it earlier, 50 years after the violent civil rights movement, the racial history still casts its shadow on the nation.

In Georgia State, an unarmed black man, 27, was shot dead by a white police officer in Atlanta area Monday afternoon, which has prompted a social media outcry and an investigation on whether the use of force is necessary.

Just a few days ago prior to the above-mentioned incident, a 19-year-old unarmed African American was killed by a police officer in Madison, Wisconsin on March 7, sparking protests.

A new poll conducted by the U.S. TV networks CNN suggested a rather dismal picture of racial relations under the presidency of the first African-American president.

According to the poll, 40 percent Americans believe that racial relations have become worse under Obama's presidency, while the ratio was only 6 percent in May 2009.