Festive Baltimore rallies in hope after police charged
Thousands of people took to the streets of Baltimore on May 2 as anger over the death of a young black man turned to hopes for change following swift criminal charges against six police officers.
There was an upbeat mood at the march from the housing projects where 25-year-old Freddie Gray was arrested last month to a plaza in front of city hall where the city's chief prosecutor announced charges on May 1 ranging from murder to assault in his death.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who has largely been absent from demonstrations over Gray's death, mingled with the crowd on May 2 near the West Baltimore intersection. He died on April 19, a week after suffering a fatal spinal injury while in police custody.
Many in the largely black city erupted with joy after the officers involved in the arrest were charged, in contrast to what happened after the deaths of unarmed black men over the past year in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York, where authorities found police broke no laws and officers involved were not charged.
But while the charges announced by prosecutor Marilyn Mosby brought relief to the city of 620,000, residents said they needed to see justice served, not only in Baltimore but in other US communities where they feel minorities are disproportionately targeted and badly treated by police.
"We will gather in peace and we will march in peace and we will march until police brutality ends in the United States," Malik Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice which helped organize May 2's march, told the crowd.
Using social media hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #BlackSpring, rallies were also planned on May 2 in more than 20 US cities including Dallas, New York and Los Angeles.