Hundreds of mourners are expected to pay their respects to a man who died after sustaining serious injuries while in police custody at his funeral Monday in northwest Baltimore, as city and state officials appealed to demonstrators to peacefully seek justice instead of committing acts of violence.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a “call for peace” Sunday, the day before the funeral at the New Shiloh Baptist Church, a well-known congregation in Northwest Baltimore. Community activists are preparing to lead another large protest next weekend, one week after than 1,000 people marched through the city, holding homemade signs demanding protection from rogue officers and that police “stop killing black people.”
Saturday’s protest deteriorated into an attack on police and several of their vehicles as some demonstrators threw bricks and rocks at officers while others bashed in the glass of the vehicles. In one instance, a protester set fire to a trash can and tossed it at officers dressed in riot gear.
Police arrested 34 people, while six officers suffered minor injuries, said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department.
The violent protest was a large-scale reaction to the death of Mr. Gray, 25, who had his voice box crushed and his spine nearly severed while in the custody of police on April 12 and died from his injuries a week later. The Baltimore Police Department has suspended with pay the six officers who played a role in apprehending and transporting Mr. Gray from west Baltimore to a downtown hospital as they investigate the incident.
Baltimore City Council President Bernard Young said in a statement that pockets of ruffians marred Saturday’s peaceful demonstrations in downtown Baltimore. He and other officials maintained that outside agitators were to blame for the violence that ensued Saturday.
“I am asking for anyone not interested in peacefully seeking justice to please leave our city,” he said.
Ms. Rawlings-Blake echoed his accusation in a Sunday evening press conference.
“Many of the people who weren’t from our community were, in essence, trying to hijack raw emotion of those who live in Baltimore,” she said.
A few hours before officials gathered to address the public, Mr. Gray’s family gathered at his wake, which took place at a funeral home in the northern part of the city. Residents from neighborhoods surrounding the Vaughn Greene Funeral Home convened in a cluster on the sidewalk across the street and held up cardboard signs that said “We stand together,” and “We grieve with you. RIP Freddie Gray.”
The group decided to come out and quietly express their condolences for Mr. Gray’s family after Joseph Capista, 38, sent out an email Saturday through the neighborhood listserv saying he wanted to do something to show the family that their plight was important to him.
“Like a lot of people in my neighborhood, I have a family and I work full time and I really wanted to show my support for the Gray family, but I wasn’t able to get down town this week and participate in any capacity,” he said. “So I figured with the services being held in our neighborhood, I figured it was an opportune time just to come out and show our support for the Gray family as they grieve for the loss of Freddie.”
Other neighbors took a different approach.
Ricardo Flood, 55, opted to stand in the street clutching a homemade sign that asked for passing vehicles to honk for Mr. Gray while advising the drivers that something needed to be done about police brutality and abuse of authority before someone else was killed. Mr. Flood said a similar situation happened to his 24-year-old son, Anthony, at a small convenience store by the funeral home.
“Weed out the bad cops,” he shouted. “It could happen to you.”
Protesters intend to bolster their forces and march through the streets of Baltimore again on May 2. By that time, the police department’s internal investigation of Mr. Gray’s death is expected to be completed. PoliceCommissioner Anthony Batts previously stated that the investigation would wrap up before May 1.
• Maggie Ybarra can be reached at mybarra@washingtontimes.com.
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