With two protesters taken into custody, tensions grew as people rallied in Baltimore this past Thursday.
Freddie Gray passed away Sunday April 19th after sustaining a fatal spinal injury caused by police brutality. What started out as peaceful protests by supporters of Gray and his family slowly grew in force and numbers as people marched towards a police station and surrounded a cop car. The Baltimore Police tweeted out “#WeHearYou” and acknowledged the peaceful nature of the rally making no more than two arrests. The real tension arose from the lack of details and information disclosed about Gray’s arrest. The Gray family attorney Andrew O’Connell said, “what was the reasonable suspicion? why were they arresting our client? …he had no weapon in his hand…was committing no crime and he wasn’t hurting anybody…[They] had no reasonable suspicion to stop or arrest him.” While a few police officials have made statements, the Baltimore Police department has yet to release details on the cops’ interactions with Gray or the cause of the fatal injury.
Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 issued a statement expressing their concern of the growing protest on Wednesday and compared the protest behavior to that on lynching. Lodge 3 said, “the images seen on television look and sound much like a lynch mob in that they are calling for the immediate imprisonment of these officers without them ever receiving the due process that is the constitutional right of every citizen, including law enforcement officers.” Attorney Andrew O’Connell commented on the obvious irony of the police officials comparing the peaceful protests to lynch mobs,”referring to the citizens of Baltimore city who are peacefully protesting as a ‘lynch mob’ doesn’t serve to keep the peace…it only fans the flames of people who are already on edge.” Additionally O’Connell pointed out the irony that historically police have not been the subject of lycnh mobs, given America’s history of legalized oppression. The Baltimore Police Department requested back up from the Maryland State Police on Wednesday receiving 32 troopers to better manage the crowd. Tensions remain high in Baltimore as citizens want answers and justice.
-Nishat Baig
