Thousands protest over US custody death of Freddie Gray

[Free Karma]

Thousands protest over US custody death of Freddie Gray - Al Jazeera English

Several thousand protesters converged in the US city of Baltimore on Saturday to protest over the death of 25-year-old black man Freddie Gray while in police custody.
Gray died on Sunday after sustaining multiple injuries which included three fractures in his neck vertebrae, a smashed voicebox and the severing of 80 percent of his spine from his neck. Gray had been in police custody for a week, having been arrested in a high-crime neighbourhood after he made eye contact with police and fled. After he was caught he was found to be carrying a knife.

Melissa Ealey, Gray's cousin, told Al Jazeera that no crime perpetrated could warrant such abuse. "There is no reason the police had to conduct themselves in a manner to where "¦ it cost him his life," Ealey said. "I can understand breaking the law is wrong but the way they apprehended him and the things they did were completely against protocol and just inhumane as a whole."

'National epidemic' of violence

Signs in hand, with slogans such as "Jail Killer Police" and "Unite Here," demonstrators from different racial backgrounds flooded two city blocks and marched to city hall, where the crowd overtook a plaza.
March organiser and lawyer Malik Shabazz described violence against blacks by American police officers as "a national epidemic against black men". Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Baltimore, said the marchers had then headed towards Baltimore's Oriole Park Major League Baseball stadium at Camden Yards where Baltimore's Orioles were later set to take on the Boston Red Sox. Rattansi said the protest outside the stadium ended relatively peacefully, although a few cars appeared to have been vandalised, as police warned protesters that they would face arrest if they didn't disperse.

"There was not very much in the way of heated scenes, about 20 minutes for the whole day but what we did see today was a few thousand people gather in city hall demanding answers over questions including why he was even arrested in the first place," Rattansi said. The police had earlier kept a safe distance, as the protesters called for sweeping national policy changes on how cases of police brutality should be dealt with.

Their demands included the establishment of an independent civilian review board in every city to review the cases, immediate suspension without pay for police officers accused of violence and protection for whistleblowers so they could freely speak about police brutality without retaliation.

"Speaker after speaker keep saying here, when a genocide is happening against you, why would you ask the people committing it what is going on," our reporter said.

Stafford Sutton, an activist who attended the march, said changes to federal policies were required to defuse anger after a spate of recent cases of police brutality. "I've seen a lot of individuals who have been done wrong. A federal mandate needs to be brought down. We have to go through the process, we have to follow it through and go to Washington," Sutton said. Demonstrators have flooded the streets of Baltimore almost every day since Gray's death, although Saturday's rally was the largest. Gray's death has been compared to those of other unarmed black men who died at the hands of police in New York City and Ferguson, Missouri, and has intensified a national debate over police treatment of African Americans.

The US Department of Justice is conducting a separate probe into Gray's death. The result of an official police investigation into his fate will also be released on Friday. A wake for Gray is scheduled for Sunday, with his funeral to be held on Monday.

Seems to be happening more often these days, I guess perhaps people are more reactive now and information spreads fast too.

Some of the protestors have vandalized stores and looted them, plus have attacked police cars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_zwodSuY5A
[tweet]592148921100738560[/tweet]

Some comparisons going on with his photo and China's tank man

 

[Ray]

It seems to appear that the US police has replaced the KKK.

Or is the US media that has gone honest in reporting?

 

[SADAKHUSH]

It seems to appear that the US police has replaced the KKK.

Or is the US media that has gone honest in reporting?

I think a mobile phone cameras are playing a big role in exposing the brutality of these cops who think they are above the law. We had one such incident few years ago at one of the Canadian Airport. An immigrant from Poland was killed by taser and than cover up started and few weeks ago some of the cops were convicted.

 

[Free Karma]

Things have gone out of control...rioters burnt down a newly constructed old age home..

State of emergency declared in Baltimore.

 

[Kshatriya87]

First question, were ALL the cops white? If not, then this isn't related to racism. But anyways, US police are getting really brutal recently.

 

[Rashna]

Maryland governor declares state of emergency

BALTIMORE: The governor of Maryland has declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to help with the violence and rioting in Baltimore.

Gov. Larry Hogan signed the order Monday night at the request of the city. Cars and at least one store have been set on fire during a riot. Businesses are being looted in part of the city.

The riot started just hours after the funeral for Freddie Gray, who died after being injured while in police custody.

Maryland governor declares state of emergency - The Times of India

 

[Free Karma]

First question, were ALL the cops white? If not, then this isn't related to racism. But anyways, US police are getting really brutal recently.

I think it's been like this, things are just coming out now, and blacks arent the only people affected by such things:

But the reason why I think it takes on a racial tone is because blacks seem to get treated unfairly by the system when compared to whites (read some cases where simple crimes got them big sentences and so on).

 

[Kshatriya87]

I think it's been like this, things are just coming out now, and blacks arent the only people affected by such things:

But the reason why I think it takes on a racial tone is because blacks seem to get treated unfairly by the system when compared to whites (read some cases where simple crimes got them big sentences and so on).

I did, saw some videos too. Contrary to popular belief, US cops are not that inclined towards human rights and honor for law. They beat the hell out of perps when they get a chance as is evident in this case. Also, making deals with DA is a popular thing since atleast 2 decades now. The cops trick the black guys into taking deals and send them to jail.

 

[Illusive]

One of the comments from NY Times.

If it weren't for these riots would anyone even care about the abuses that have been happening REGULARLY for decades. People are tired of being harassed, disrespected and victimized by the police on an almost daily basis with no course of justice available to them.

The looting and violence won't solve it...but what will?? A peaceful man was choked to death by the police on camera right here and New York...with no consequences. Everyone stopped talking about it and nothing was done.

This message received lot of recommendations so i posted here. Why do you have to riot to get attention when you can simply use Internet to spread awareness, people can go and protest peacefully with banners and still get the attention, but riots like this just give a bad impression.

 

[Rashna]

What does "unreported race" mean? Are they aliens!

I think it's been like this, things are just coming out now, and blacks arent the only people affected by such things:

But the reason why I think it takes on a racial tone is because blacks seem to get treated unfairly by the system when compared to whites (read some cases where simple crimes got them big sentences and so on).

 

[Free Karma]

What does "unreported race" mean? Are they aliens!

Maybe mixed or didnt have the data in their records (and something authorities couldnt decide on)....

 

[Ray]

Freddie Gray protests sweep US

Thousands of people demonstrated in major US East Coast cities on Wednesday demanding equal treatment for all by police, after a young African American died of injuries sustained in custody in Baltimore.

The biggest show of people power was in Baltimore itself — epicenter of the latest racially tinged unrest to convulse the United States — where several thousand mostly young demonstrators paralyzed city blocks in a major rally through downtown to City Hall.

Thousands more protested in New York, the capital Washington and Boston in solidarity, as decades-old simmering anger over police tactics and discrimination again bubbled to the surface.

The protests were overwhelmingly peaceful and good-natured, although New York police arrested more than 60 demonstrators, CNN said, and emotions were running high, with scuffles breaking out.

What appears to be a growing movement for change was focused on Baltimore, where a rally that started at the main train station included black and white demonstrators, some of them linking arms and chanting: "No justice, no peace! No racists, no peace!"

Many in the march were high school or college students. "We're protesting the ongoing injustices that police have perpetrated on black men particularly. Police are trigger-happy and we need to stop that," Jonathan Brown, 19, a student at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP.

Some in the huge crowd held placards, one reading, "Killer cops deserve cell blocks." A few wore shirts with the words, "Amnesty International observer."

The 2,000 National Guard personnel who have flooded Baltimore this week kept a low profile and only small knots of demonstrators remained on the streets when a curfew swept into effect for a second night from 10:00pm (0200 GMT Thursday) to 5:00am.

The Baltimore rally and largely quiet streets after the emergency curfew was a far cry from the violence and looting which flared there following the funeral of Freddie Gray, 25, on Monday.

The circumstances surrounding Gray's death are unclear, but six officers have been suspended with pay.

Adding to the confusion, The Washington Post, citing a police document, said a prisoner sharing a police transport van with Gray told investigators that he could hear Gray "banging against the walls" of the vehicle and believed that he "was intentionally trying to injure himself."

The prisoner, who is in jail, was separated from Gray by a metal partition and could not see him, the report said.

Gray died seven days after his arrest with 80 percent of his spine severed at the neck, lawyers for his family say, portraying him as just the latest young African American to die at the hands of the police.

In August, a white policeman shot dead a black teenager in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, triggering demonstrations in major US cities from Los Angeles to New York that were repeated when a grand jury declined to indict the officer.

Maryland State Governor Larry Hogan said he had been "very encouraged" by the prior 24 hours and said a semblance of normality was returning to Baltimore, a gritty city of 620,000 less than an hour's drive from Washington.

But he cautioned: "We are not out of the woods yet."

In New York City, protesters gathered at Union Square, in Lower Manhattan, for a rally dubbed on a Facebook page, "NYC Rise up and Shut it down with Baltimore."

The large march initially met no resistance from police, but that swiftly changed as officers — who deployed in significant numbers — moved in and made arrests.

The New York Police Department would not say how many were detained. In Washington, there was a festive atmosphere as a well-organized march that peaked at about 1,000 ended at the White House, where protesters chanted and held signs reading, "Stop racist police terror."

Miyeah Cook, a 17-year-old African American, told AFP: "I'm just trying to stand up for black people everywhere. Just anywhere and everywhere.

"Honestly, I don't know why I'm out here at this point because we're literally being escorted by the police. I don't find it helpful at all.

"It honestly made me mad once I found out that the police were everywhere we went."

Among the many startling images to emerge from Baltimore was that of an infuriated mother hitting her teenage son repeatedly for joining the demonstrations on Monday and dragging him away.

"I just lost it," said Toya Graham, a single mother of six, whose actions have been widely praised.

"I was shocked, I was angry, because you never want to see your child out there doing that," she added, speaking to CBS News.
Freddie Gray protests sweep US - The Times of India

 

[rockey 71]

White Baltimore Gets Troops, Black Baltimore Gets Same Old Cops - The Daily Beast

White Baltimore Gets Troops, Black Baltimore Gets Same Old Cops
Politicians and reporters say last night was a success. The residents of Sandtown, where Freddie Gray died, know better.