Violence at US rally on killing of Black

Baltimore: Protesters rampaged through downtown Baltimore on Sunday as the city’s biggest demonstration yet over the death of a young African-American man in police custody turned violent. More than 1,000 people had joined a peaceful 90-minute rally at city hall demanding justice for Freddie Gray, 25, who died last Sunday from spinal injuries, a week after his arrest in west Baltimore.

 

But the mood shifted dramatically when scores of protesters moved to the vicinity of the Camden Yards baseball stadium, scene of a Baltimore Orioles-Boston Red Sox game. Twelve people were arrested, police commissioner Anthony Batts told reporters.“My family wants to say: Please, please stop the violence. Freddie would not want this,” Gray’s twin sister Fredericka said.

 

She spoke alongside Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who said she was “profoundly disappointed” by violence she blamed on “a small group of agitators.” Television footage showed a crowd hurling traffic cones, soda bottles and trash cans at police officers, before randomly smashing store windows, looting merchandise and vandalizing police cars.

 

Targets included a 7-Eleven convenience store, a Michael Kors fashion boutique, a financial services center and a cellphone shop in Baltimore’s landmark Lexington Market. Street signs were torn down, and one motorist got a rock through her car window, local media said.