Protesters took to the streets of New York City.
Baltimore may be quiet, but swells of protesters took to the streets in several other cities nationwide to express solidarity with those in Maryland who’ve been demanding answers in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died a few days after police took him into custody.
Various media reported the protesters in New York, Denver, Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle and Washington, D.C., were also marching to show support for the family of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. The officer was cleared of any wrongdoing.
About 120 were arrested in New York City, as thousands took to Times Square. Police eventually set up a barricade to contain the protesters; more than 1,000 flowed into the streets, essentially shutting down the popular New York City spot to traffic and travelers, the Daily Mail reported.
Other sites in the city also came to a standstill because of protesters, many of whom shouted the now-familiar “hands up, don’t shoot” slogan as they marched.
“A group of protesters spilled into the street, disrupting traffic” and attempting to block Holland Tunnel and other major roadways, WNYC reported. “Dozens of police officers moved in with plastic handcuffs and began making arrests while officers with batons pushed the crowd back onto the sidewalk.”
NPR reported police were forced to use pepper spray to disperse crowds by the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. The Denver Post reported 11 adults were arrested during confrontations with police.
“An officer got knocked off his motorcycle as he was basically patrolling and that was what lead to the assault charge arrest [for some],” said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said, to the Denver Post. “That is what stirred up a lot of things at that point.”
The Associated Press reported Philadelphia protesters are planning more rallies on Thursday, with the message, “Philly is Baltimore,” an obvious reference to Gray’s death.
Gray’s medical findings, and the extent of his spinal injury that he suffered during police custody, are supposed to be released on Friday, and authorities are on high alert, expecting more protests and potentially violent outbursts to cap the week.
The marches and protests come as the Washington Post reported an interview between a Baltimore Police investigator and a prisoner who was in the same van as Gray during the ride to the station. The prisoner, who’s now in jail, said he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” and thought he “was intentionally trying to injure himself,” the newspaper reported.
The Washington Post also reported that prisoner was separated from Gray in the van by a metal partition and could not see him.
Jason Downs, an attorney for the Gray family, responded to the claims with this, NPR reported: “We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord. We question the accuracy of the police reports we’ve seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident.”
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/times-square-shut-down-as-protests-spread-2/
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