In Baltimore: Thousands join “victory rally” after charges filed.
BALTIMORE — Chants of “no justice, no peace, no racist police” echoed through the streets of Baltimore on Saturday during a march that organizers billed as a “victory rally” a day after a prosecutor charged six officers involved in the arrest of a man who died in police custody.
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby on Friday charged the six with felonies ranging from assault to murder in the death of Freddie Gray. He died from spinal injuries a week after his April 12 arrest. It provoked riots on the streets of West Baltimore and quickly became a rallying cry against police brutality and social inequality in the city and elsewhere.
The planned march was to be a mass protest of Gray’s treatment by police, but after Mosby’s announcement, the tone became more celebratory.
Shortly after noon at Gilmor Homes, a group of demonstrators, both black and white, young and older, congregated.
“Are you ready to march for justice?” asked Kwame Rose, 20, of Baltimore. The crowded chanted, “Yes.”
“Are you all ready to march for peace?” Rose asked. “Yeah,” the group answered.
Black Lawyers for Justice was expecting at least 10,000 people to show up downtown. Smaller groups of what looked to be several hundred gathered all around Baltimore and made their way through the streets to join the thousands at the main rally at City Hall.
They carried homemade signs, calling for peace, as well as printed ones asking for justice. Others wore T-shirts that read, “Black Lives Matter.”
After the night of rioting and looting, the National Guard was called in to help police enforce a nightly curfew with heavily armed troops riding in armored vehicles, to which many objected. By late Saturday, a handful of people had been arrested after the curfew, including one that was hit with a blast of pepper spray.
Near a CVS store that was looted and burned earlier in the week, groups of police officers stood on corners and a police helicopter flew overhead. Someone had used chalk to draw a peace sign and write “Freddie Gray” on the brick face of the store. Hearts and dollar signs had been drawn on the store’s boarded-up windows.
Mosby said that after reviewing the results of a police investigation turned over to her just one day before, she had concluded Gray’s arrest was illegal and unjustified. She said his neck was broken because he was handcuffed, shackled and placed head-first into a police van, where his pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored as he bounced around inside a small metal compartment in the vehicle.
The six officers are scheduled to appear publicly in court for the first time at the end of the month. A lawyer hired by the police union insisted the officers did nothing wrong. Michael Davey said Mosby has committed “an egregious rush to judgment.”