With 6 charged, Baltimore protests calm

BALTIMORE -- After preparing for what could have been another volatile day of unrest, a beautiful spring day unfolded in Baltimore with an atmosphere more festive than threatening.

More than 1,000 marchers convened on City Hall for a planned afternoon rally. The crowd was smaller than the 5,000 that had been projected last week, but decidedly more upbeat than previous gatherings. People moved peacefully and cheerfully toward City Hall, where a rally began at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Vendors sold from food trucks and DJs pumped music. A juggler tossed red, blue and yellow beanbags into the air. A woman at the microphone called for fair jurors to move the Freddie Gray case forward.

Much of the tension that has wracked the city seemed to have drained away in the 24 hours since six police officers were charged in the death of Gray. Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby acted with surprising swiftness, declaring Gray's death a homicide and describing how he allegedly was arrested illegally, treated callously by the officers and suffered a severe spine injury in the back of a police van.

To many, including some who seemed stunned that their calls for quick action had been answered, the day after Mosby's action felt more like a victory celebration.

With at least one more march planned, many residents yearned for an end to upheavals that have included violent protests, a 10 p.m. curfew and National Guard troops on the ground.

Participants on Saturday were trying to sort out their reactions to the quick charging of the police and the meaning of the afternoon rally.

"It's more a celebration" than a protest, said Hakeem Muhammad of Black Lawyers for Justice. But Fatimah Shakur of Brooklyn, N.Y., standing nearby, interrupted.

"It's no celebration," she said. "A celebration is a conviction." She noted that the officers, while charged, are all out on bail. "We're still fighting. ... We can't get sidetracked."

Shakur, 31, traveled from New York to Baltimore on Saturday morning to take part in the rally. Police brutality, she said, should be recognized as a nationwide problem.

A brief flash protest did break out shortly before 12:30 p.m at the area on West North Avenue that has become ground zero of the Baltimore upheaval. Roughly 150 protesters chanted "Take back Baltimore!" and raised signs that said "Justice for Freddie Gray" and "It is a beginning but far from the end."

A protester with a megaphone shouted, "There's a war on black lives in America." And later: "If you had not burned down that CVS, you would not have had those charges yesterday."

After about 10 minutes, protesters observed a moment of silence for Gray and marched off in the direction of City Hall. Marchers carried a large banner that read "Stop Racist Police Terror." One protester banged on a cow bell and another held a sign that read "We march together and demand change."

The crowd was a mix of black and white, locals and visitors. Those making the trip downtown Saturday said they didn't know what to expect. Julie McConnell and her grandson, John Gill, drove in from Baltimore County. "I just thought it would be good education for him to see the city as it is now and how, hopefully, it will change because of this," McConnell said. "Because we need change."

Throughout Friday night and into Saturday, people demonstrated at largely peaceful May Day rallies across the country. But in the Pacific Northwest, protesters in two cities clashed with police, with marchers throwing rocks and chairs at officers as the evening gatherings spiraled into mayhem.

In Seattle, police said black-clad marchers threw wrenches, sticks and rocks at officers in the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood Friday evening, injuring three officers. Police responded with pepper spray and pepper balls and arrested 15 people. Several dozen vehicles were damaged, police said.

In Portland, Ore., authorities said an unruly crowd hurled projectiles and chairs at officers Friday evening. Police there temporarily closed a major bridge over the Willamette River during the height of the evening commute and pepper-sprayed some demonstrators when a May Day march deviated from its permitted route through downtown.

Police said one officer was assaulted and was taken to a precinct for medical treatment.

But back in quiet Baltimore on Saturday, small groups of police officers with batons but no helmets or other riot gear stood on corners near the burned-out CVS drugstore at the mostly deserted heart of the unrest, the corner of North and Pennsylvania avenues.

Many officers stood around talking and twirling their batons. Boxes of coffee and doughnuts sat on the back of a city police cruiser. On the other side of the street were small groups of people watching the scene or getting food from the Penn North Carryout.

"Calm is good," said one officer who asked not to be quoted by name because he wasn't authorized to comment. "We're doing a rain dance."

Information for this article was contributed by Steve Hendrix, Arelis R. Hernandez, Rachel Weiner, DeNeen Brown, Emma Brown, Bill Turque, Antonio Olivo and Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post and by Manuel Valdes and staff members of The Associated Press

A Section on 05/03/2015