BALTIMORE
— A protest over the death of Freddie Gray, who was critically injured
in police custody, started peacefully with thousands marching through
downtown streets before the demonstration turned violent and volatile.
The
chaotic scene Saturday night prompted the first public remarks from
Freddie Gray's twin sister, who pleaded for peace at a news conference
alongside the mayor.
"My family wants to say, can you all please, please stop the violence?" Fredricka Gray said. "Freddie Gray would not want this."
Just
before nightfall, groups of protesters marched from City Hall to the
Camden Yards baseball stadium, where the Baltimore Orioles played the
Boston Red Sox. Fans were told to briefly stay inside the stadium until
the police were able to clear an intersection outside of the venue.
Meanwhile,
a smaller "splinter group" looted a convenience store and threw tables
and chairs through storefront windows, shattering the glass. One group
smashed the window of a department store inside a downtown mall and, at
one point, a protester tossed a flaming metal garbage can toward a line
of police officers in riot gear as they tried to push back the crowd.
Earlier,
a group of protesters smashed the windows of at least three police cars
and got into fights with baseball fans outside a bar.
Police
Commissioner Anthony Batts said roughly 1,200 officers were deployed
downtown and across the city to try and keep the peace. At least five
officers were injured and 12 people were arrested. Batts said he
believes the "very violent agitators" are not from Baltimore.
"I'm proud of our residents," Batts said. "The majority of the people here did a great job."
But Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she was "profoundly disappointed."
"Unfortunately
a small group of agitators turned what was otherwise a peaceful
demonstration into a violent protest. This is something that's
unacceptable to me and everyone who lives in Baltimore," she said.
Fire
officials said roughly 1,200 protesters gathered at City Hall Saturday
afternoon to protest Gray's death, which has prompted near-daily
demonstrations since his death on April 19. Gray was arrested one week
before that when officers chased him through a West Baltimore
neighborhood and dragged him into a police van.
Police
acknowledged Friday that Gray, 25, should have received medical
attention at the spot where he was arrested — before he was put inside a
police transport van handcuffed and without a seat belt, a violation of
the Police Department's policy.
Gray,
who is black, was arrested after he made eye contact with officers and
ran away, police said. Officers held him down, handcuffed him and loaded
him into the van. While inside, he became irate and leg cuffs were put
on him, police have said.
Gray
asked for medical help several times, beginning before he was placed in
the van. After a 30-minute ride that included three stops, paramedics
were called.
Authorities have not explained how or when Gray's spine was injured.
On
Saturday afternoon, protesters gathered at the site of Gray's arrest in
the Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore before making their way to
City Hall.
Leonard
Patterson, 56, said he drove from Manassas, Virginia, to be a part of
the protest. Patterson said he decided to come after thinking about his
college-aged daughter.
"I'm
trying to do everything in my limbs, everything in my power, to make
this a better world for her," he said as he held a drawing of Gray being
hoisted from a police van to heaven by two angels. "I'm here to do what
I can. Police brutality is as old as the 1950s, 1960s. It's still
here."
Wearing
a sign around his neck that said "I am Freddie Gray," 33-year-old Dante
Acree joined thousands of others outside City Hall. Acree said he came
out to the protest because "it could have been one of my kids."
"It could have been my brother, my father," he said. "I'd want the same support."
One
of the protest's organizers, Malik Shabazz, the president of Black
Lawyers for Justice, said the crowd exceeded their expectations, adding
that protesters' anger is not surprising.
"This
is a problem that has not been solved," he said. "When there's no
justice, they tend to want to take matters into their own hands."
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