Protests Across US: Marchers Demand Justice, Police Reform
By Countercurrents.org
30 April 2015
Countercurrents.org
Protesters marched against police violence in cities from New York to Denver on Wednesday. The protesting people demanded justice against police brutality. In New York, police arrested more than 60 people. A number of protesters were arrested in Denver also. In New York, protesters roved through Manhattan, blocking traffic in a few areas. Protests were held in Boston, Houston, Ferguson, Missouri, Washington, D.C., and Seattle.
A large demonstration in Baltimore ended peacefully two days after rioting over the death of , Freddie Gray, a black man injured in police custody.
Media reports from U.S. said:
The protests were the latest actions against racial profiling and police use of lethal force sparked by the deaths of African-American men in Cleveland; Ferguson, Missouri; New York and elsewhere in the past year.
In New York City, police on scooters used batons to try to keep protesters on sidewalks and arrested people who moved into traffic.
The demonstrations from Union Square to Times Square and elsewhere, were reminiscent of similar demonstrations in December after a grand jury decided against charges in the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after a police officer put him in a chokehold.
In Baltimore, National Guard troops and police enforced a 10 p.m. curfew as thousands of peaceful marchers converged on city hall. The march capped a day of calm in a city that two days earlier saw its worst rioting in decades.
Protesters in the mostly black city of Baltimore sought answers about the fate of Freddie Gray, 25, who died after suffering spinal injuries while in police custody. Police are due on Friday to give their findings on Gray's death to prosecutors but said no information will be made public.
"Can't stop, won't stop, put killer cops in cell blocks," chanted protesters in the biggest march in Baltimore since Gray died on April 19, a week after his arrest and injury.
Nineteen buildings and dozens of cars burned, stores were looted and 20 officers were hurt in Baltimore on Monday in a spasm of violence hours after Gray's funeral.
"This is for everyone who died wrongly at the hands of police," said Noy Brown-Frisby, a 35-year-old hairstylist who attended Wednesday's march with her young daughter.
Police have arrested close to 270 people since Monday, 18 of them on Wednesday. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said more than 100 people had been released without being charged, because officials could not keep up with the paperwork, but he said charges would be brought later.
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