Marchers in Annapolis echo nationwide call
Anti-police brutality protesters disrupt Seattle City Council meeting
Marchers
in Annapolis echo nationwide call
By Mark Puente, Justin George
and Colin Campbell
Hundreds of protesters
descended upon Annapolis Thursday
Hundreds of Marylanders joined
noisy demonstrations at the State House in Annapolis and on downtown Baltimore
streets Thursday to call for an end to police brutality and other misconduct.
They packed a hearing room on
the second day of the 2015 General Assembly session and vowed to monitor
legislative proposals aimed at police misconduct. Later, about 130
demonstrators gathered at the Inner Harbor and marched downtown, blocking
President and Pratt street intersections for hours.
"We have to take a stand
against police violence and police brutality," the Rev. Heber Brown III
shouted into a megaphone in Annapolis. "We're here today because other
people are getting away with murder."
A "March on
Annapolis" flier outlined the protesters' legislative demands, which
include changing a state law that provides procedural safeguards for officers
accused of misconduct. They called for strengthening Baltimore's civilian
review board and tapping independent prosecutors to handle police brutality
investigations.
Thursday's protests, part of a
nationwide effort to voice concerns about police, coincided with what would
have been the 86th birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
To energize the crowd, speakers
asked what the civil rights leader would do about the anger permeating the
country in the aftermath of police killing unarmed blacks.
The deaths of Michael Brown in
Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in New York and Tamir Rice in Cleveland at the hands
of officers have helped to focus national attention on police conduct.
Baltimore police have drawn
scrutiny in the death of Tyrone West. A Baltimore Sun investigation showed that
the city has paid nearly $6 million since 2011 in settlements and court
judgments for plaintiffs who alleged brutality and other misconduct.
Sixty demonstrators, a mix of
retirees, students and ministers, boarded a bus at the Alameda shopping center
in Baltimore early Thursday for Annapolis. They carried phones, coffee cups and
signs denouncing police violence against unarmed citizens.
Protesters gathered at Lawyers
Mall to demand that lawmakers change a state law so police face swifter justice
when they commit misconduct. Standing underneath a statute of Thurgood
Marshall, speakers led the crowd in chants of "We want justice,"
"Black lives matter" and "No justice, no peace."
"We want to make a stand
on this day!" yelled Baltimore's Farajii Muhammad, as several dozen police
officers and troopers watched the crowd. Officers made most people remove
wooden sticks from signs.
The Rev. Stephen Tillett,
pastor of Asbury Broadneck Methodist Church in Annapolis, told the crowd that
many Americans have knee-jerk reactions to the nationwide protests. He stressed
that nobody opposes police officers.
"It's an anti-brutality
protest," he bellowed. "We support the good cops."
The Rev. Donald Palmore of
Baltimore said he rode on one of two buses from Baltimore to show support for
the effort to equip police with body cameras.
"It would protect the
police as well as the public," he said.
After 30 minutes, the crowd
marched up the street to the Taylor House of Delegates Office Building.
"Everybody has the power
and influence to bring about change," said Baba Staton, a law student from
Baltimore.
Demonstrators stood
shoulder-to-shoulder at the entrance of the building, like soldiers in
formation. Their shouts vibrated down the block.
"The next funeral I go to
is where we bury injustice!" shouted Chinedu Nwokeafor of Baltimore.
It took about 30 minutes for
the obedient protesters to pass through metal detectors in the building.
The crowd gathered in front of
the hearing room of the House Judiciary Committee, where legislative proposals
supported by the group are likely to be heard. Any changes to Maryland's
decades-old law enforcement Bill of Rights, which provides procedural
safeguards when officers are accused of misconduct, could come before the
committee.
The demonstrators are not alone
in seeking changes to the police Bill of Rights. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Anthony Batts have said that police
officials need more power to address misconduct quickly.
Protesters stood silently as
the committee read its roll call. Del. Jill P. Carter, one of several lawmakers
who wants to loosen protections in the Bill of Rights, thanked the crowd for
attending.
"Justice is our top
priority," the Baltimore Democrat said.
Brown, pastor of Pleasant Hope
Baptist Church in North Baltimore, vowed that people would pack that room to
keep a watchful eye on legislation.
"If you don't do the will
of the people, you will be in retirement after the next election," he said
about lawmakers.
Del. Curt Anderson, who chairs
Baltimore's House delegation, said the number of protesters shows other
lawmakers "that we in Baltimore City face unique challenges."
Two groups gathered in
Baltimore later Thursday. One group met at the Inner Harbor and the other
outside the U.S. attorney's office on South Charles Street.
Tre Murphy, a 19-year-old
activist who staged a sit-in at a Baltimore City School Board meeting last
month to protest the closure of several schools, said his group demands change
from lawmakers.
"They're used to folks
being there one time," he said. "This is not a one-time thing. We're
going back there. ... We're going to get our legislation passed by any means
necessary."
Garland Nixon, 53, a retired
Maryland Natural Resources Police major and a board member of the ACLU of
Maryland, said he saw first-hand the need for an amended officer Bill of Rights
and stronger Civilian Review Board.
"The Constitution gives
everybody all the rights they need," he said. "Law enforcement should
be held to a higher accountability, not a lower one."
At McKeldin Square, a large
group of mostly college-age and young adults formed a circle chanting loudly
and singing "We Shall Overcome."
Amenhotep "Cruz"
Omegasoul, 26, said he came to "show some solidarity for everyone
participating in the struggle" on King's birthday. "It's definitely
important today," Omegasoul said. "But more importantly it's
important to fight every day, to fight for justice, to fight for equality every
day."
Protesters decried the arrest
of activist Sara E. Benjamin, 23, earlier in the day, and her name became a
group rallying cry.
Police said she wasn't arrested
for demonstrating but for an unrelated matter. Court records show she had an
outstanding warrant for failing to appear at a court hearing stemming from a
second-degree assault charge in September 2013.
At about 5:30 p.m., as downtown
workers left parking garages for the commute home, demonstrators poured onto
Pratt Street and headed east toward President Street. Large groups of uniformed
police officers escorted them, and the demonstration became a rolling roadblock
for commuters.
"The police are blocking
off roads so the group can protest the police," one observer tweeted.
Intersections on President
Street and in Harbor East faced logjams until just before 7 p.m., when
protesters broke up.
Anti-police
brutality protesters disrupt Seattle City Council meeting
Posted by Daniel Beekman and
Steve Miletich
The Seattle City Council
temporarily suspended its weekly briefing Monday morning after people upset
with the Seattle Police Department’s handling of recent anti-police brutality
demonstrations began shouting and singing.
Several council members left
the council chambers after audience members broke up a presentation by
representatives from the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.
Many people who had shared
concerns during a public comment period at the beginning of the briefing raised
their fists in the air and sang the words, “Justice for Mike Brown,” a
reference to the fatal police shooting last year in Ferguson, Missouri, that
didn’t result in an indictment of the officer.
During the public comment
period, speakers chastised the police department for responding to mostly
peaceful demonstrations by dispatching officers armed with pepper spray and
dressed in riot gear.
Former state Senate candidate
Jess Spear, of the Socialist Alternative party, asked why officers had “used
their bikes as weapons” against demonstrators.
The briefing resumed after
Councilmember Bruce Harrell conferred with several demonstrators. Seattle
Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole and other Seattle Police Department officials
began answering questions as part of scheduled appearance to discuss their
handling of the local protests that followed the Ferguson, Mo., decision and
the subsequent one by a Staten Island-grand jury not to indict a white officer
in the choking death of a black man.
O’Toole said her department’s
goal is to facilitate peaceful protests while protecting all members of the
public and property, including demonstrators and officers.
She told the council the
department’s Office of Professional Accountability, which handles internal
investigations, was looking into one complaint against an officer stemming from
the protests. That case involves a use of force, OPA Director Pierce Murphy
said afterward.
O’Toole reiterated her message
during an impromptu sidewalk discussion with several protesters that occurred
outside of City Hall after the council meeting.
She told the group she was open
to suggestions for handling protests in the future and urged them to officially
report any complaints.
