Thousands of people on Wednesday demonstrated in cities on the US east coast demanding equal treatment for all by police, after a young African-American died of injuries sustained in custody in Baltimore.
The biggest rally was in Baltimore itself — the epicenter of the latest racially tinged unrest to convulse the US — where several thousand mostly young demonstrators paralyzed city blocks in a major demonstration through downtown to Baltimore City Hall.
The streets of Baltimore seemed calm on the second night of a citywide curfew. Thousands more protested in New York, Washington and Boston in solidarity, as simmering anger over alleged police brutality against blacks and discrimination again bubbled to the surface.
The protests were for the most part peaceful and good-natured, although New York City police said they had arrested more than 60 demonstrators. Emotions were running high, and scuffles broke 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 reporters.
Some in the huge crowd held signs, one reading, “Killer cops deserve cell blocks.”
The calm in Baltimore, for the second night running, was a far cry from the violence and looting which flared up 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.
The results of an investigation into his death are due to be handed over to prosecutors today, but not made public right away, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. She said that many in the community had been under the mistaken belief the report would be made public today, stoking fears of another outburst of violence.
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.
In New York City, protesters gathered at Union Square for a rally dubbed on Facebook as: “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.
Police told reporters that more than 60 people were arrested.
In Washington, a march that peaked at about 1,000 ended at the White House, where protesters chanted and held signs reading: “Stop racist police terror.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese