JIM YOUNG/REUTERS Activist Cornel West attends a prayer service at the Wellspring Church before a protest Monday at the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department.

FERGUSON, Mo. — More than 50 people were arrested, including author and activist Cornel West, at a rally outside Ferguson police headquarters where some protesters used bullhorns to read the names of people killed by cops nationwide.

Pounding rain and a tornado watch didn’t deter hundreds of protesters who stayed for more than four hours Monday, the same amount of time that the 18-year-old Michael Brown’s body was left in the street after he was fatally shot by police.

Protests have been common since Brown, who was black, was killed Aug. 9 by a white police officer. But tensions escalated last week when another white police officer in nearby St. Louis shot and killed 18-year-old Vonderrit Myers Jr., who police say shot at officers before he was killed.

JIM YOUNG/REUTERS

“My faith compels me to be here,” said Episcopal Bishop Wayne Smith of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouriof the clergy-led rally. “I want to show solidarity, and call attention to the structural racism of St. Louis.”

Demonstrations also spilled to St. Louis’ football stadium, where protesters briefly unfurled a banner reading “Rams fans know on and off the field black lives matter” during the local team’s Monday night loss against the San Francisco 49ers.