Thousands of demonstrators marched in Baltimore demanding justice and police reform as 3,000 troops stood by to enforce a curfew imposed after Monday’s civil unrest over the death of a 25-year-old black man.
The large peaceful protest that converged on city hall capped a day of calm in Baltimore, which saw its worst rioting in decades two days earlier.
Marchers said they seek answers about the fate of Freddie Gray, who died after suffering spinal injuries while in police custody, while also highlighting the need to change policing practices in the largely black city.
Baltimore is the latest flashpoint in a national movement to end racial profiling stoked by the deaths of black men over the past year at the hands of police in New York; Ferguson, Missouri; Cleveland, Ohio; and elsewhere.
«Can’t stop, won’t stop, put killer cops in cell blocks,» chanted protesters in the biggest march in more than a week of demonstrations since Gray died on April 19, a week after his arrest and injury.
Republican Governor Larry Hogan said protesters must respect the nighttime curfew, and that troops would not tolerate looting or rioting.
«This is for everyone who died wrongly at the hands of police,» said Noy Brown-Frisby, a 35-year-old hairstylist who attended the march with her young daughter.
But she recognized that high crime in the city of 620,000 people complicates relations with the police.
«There is so much tension. The crime is so high that when there is interaction between police and the community it becomes volatile,» she said.
Solidarity demonstrations were planned in a number of US cities. Hundreds of people gathered in New York City’s Union Square chanting «black man, no justice.»
Source: Buenos Aires Herald