Youth protestors staged a sit-in at Baltimore’s City Hall on Wednesday after interrupting proceedings about whether to give Baltimore’s interim police commissioner Kevin Davis a permanent job as the city’s top cop.
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Mosby’s husband, Councilman Nick Mosby, had voted against Davis’ appointment as permanent commissioner. Police spokesman T.J. Smith said in an email that 35 protesters were inside and that police were “monitoring the situation”.
Member of the Baltimore Uprising coalition say they won’t leave until Interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake agree to a list of demands. The council must vote, possibly as early as Monday. The spike followed unrest and rioting in April prompted by the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after suffering a critical injury in police custody.
Police say officers in Eastern, Western and Central districts will begin wearing body cameras on October 26 during a pilot program that will last until December 18.
The coalition also wrote that during the pre-trial hearings, “we noticed officers without badges and name tags, undercover cops acting as protesters carrying firearms, and wrongful arrests – all practices that must be halted”.
“We are out here trying to demand greater accountability and transparency in the Baltimore Police Department and the city government as a whole”, said activist Tre Murphy of the Balitmore Bloc and the Baltimore Agenda Project in a video posted to YouTube. They call for alternate routes to be created for commuters and other travelers to get around protests, but also call on police to “allow protests to take and occupy larger and more disruptive spaces than would normally be tolerated”, and for “longer periods of time than would normally be tolerated in the interest of constitutional rights”. State Attorney Marilyn Mosby had called to prosecute the six officers for their involvement in Gray’s death. “The new mayor and the citizens of Baltimore should not be saddled with $150,000 golden parachute for another police commissioner should the new mayor decide to bring in new leadership for the department”.
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“We are committed to not leaving here until our demands are met”, said Murphy. “Now the Mayor has nominated Kevin Davis to carry the full responsibilities as Commissioner”. His contract will run through June of 2020.
