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| CORRECTS BYLINE - Protesters are placed into a van by police early Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015, in Baltimore. Police officers have converged on Baltimore's City Hall where protesters could be seen being led away to vans and vehicles after an hourslong occupation of the building to protest moves to make permanent the appointment of the city's interim police commissioner. |
BALTIMORE
(AP) -- The latest on protests by the Baltimore Uprising coalition,
which occupied City Council chambers at Baltimore City Hall to protest a
council committee's vote in favor of making the interim police
commissioner permanent:
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2:45 p.m.
Democratic
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says she is confused about the
purpose of a City Hall demonstration by student and community
activists.
More than 30 people held a sit-in
for eight hours and, ultimately, 16 were arrested early Thursday.
Protesters said they wanted Rawlings-Blake and interim Police
Commissioner Kevin Davis to meet with them to discuss demands for
demonstrators' First Amendment rights, the firing of the city's housing
commissioner and the investment of millions of dollars in city schools.
After attending an event Thursday afternoon at a community center, Rawlings-Blake said she wasn't "clear on their goals."
She
says the protesters requested a meeting with Davis, he agreed to meet
with them Friday and he gave them his cellphone number to arrange the
meeting. Rawlings-Blake says that, "instead of using that as an
opportunity for communication, they tweeted his phone number to the
world."
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11:30 a.m.
Interim
Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis says in a perfect world, the
people arrested during a sit-in at City Hall "probably wouldn't have
stayed that long."
Davis spoke Thursday on
"The Norris and Davis Show" on WJZ-FM. Steve Davis and Ed Norris, a
former Baltimore police commissioner, host the broadcast.
Police
arrested 16 people on trespassing charges early Thursday after an
eight-hour demonstration. Demonstrators refused to leave following a
hearing by a City Council committee on Davis' nomination to the top
police job.
Davis says the arrests were "the
last thing we wanted to do." He says that, "in a perfect world, they
probably wouldn't have stayed that long."
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9:30 a.m.
Baltimore police say 16 people, including three juveniles, have been charged with trespassing after a protest at City Hall.
On
Thursday morning, police released the names of the protesters, who
range in age from 16 to 38. Most are from Baltimore, but the group
includes a 26-year-old from nearby Columbia and a 38-year-old from
Burtonsville, in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
Supporters
gathered at City Hall Thursday morning to demand the protesters'
release, hours after the group refused to leave City Hall when a City
Council subcommittee voted to keep on the interim police commissioner.
Tawanda
Jones, whose brother Tyrone West died after a confrontation with
Baltimore police following a traffic stop in 2013, is among the
protesters, holding a sign that reads: "Jail for Killer Cops." Jones
says protesters are trying to hold the police accountable. She says
their voices are not being heard "and that's disgusting."
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8 a.m.
Just
hours after protesters were led away from City Hall in plastic
handcuffs, supporters are gathering outside City Hall to demand their
release.
A handful of people are outside the building Thursday morning.
Protesters
who say they want a voice in the selection of a police commissioner
gathered inside City Hall on Wednesday night as a Council subcommittee
voted to keep interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis on permanently.
Afterward, protesters refused to leave City Hall until city officials
agreed to meet a list of demands.
Several
hours later, police say some protesters left the building and the
remaining protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing.
Davis
took on the interim role in July after predecessor Anthony Batts was
fired amid a spike in violent crime in Baltimore. The spike followed
unrest and rioting in April after Freddie Gray's death.
The full council must approve the appointment and a vote is scheduled on Monday.
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4:30 a.m.
Police
officers grouped before dawn outside Baltimore City Hall and could be
seen by an Associated Press reporter leading at least 12 people from the
government building to police transport vans and other vehicles.
Several of those being escorted away could be seen in plastic handcuffs,
their hands behind their backs.
Approximately
25 officers initially formed a line in front of City Hall and more
police were seen with their vehicles out back as protesters were led
out. More than a dozen others outside City Hall looked on at the police
activity, chanting, "It is our duty to fight for our freedom, we have
nothing to lose but our chains!"
Police
officials could not be reached immediately for comment on their
activities at City Hall and whether they had confirmed anyone was
formally taken into custody.
Kwame Rose, an
organizer of protesters who have been occupying the building for hours,
said he and others left after police had warned they shouldn't be in the
building after hours.
Rose says he's upset
the city's interim police commissioner, Kevin Davis, hadn't met with the
activists to listen to their demands. The activists are opposing moves
to permanently appoint Davis to the post.
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3:30 a.m.
One
of the organizers of protesters occupying Baltimore City Hall, Kwame
Rose, left the building about 3:30 a.m. soon after several others
departed. He was in tears, saying several police officers had arrived
and that activists still remaining inside were now facing a threat of
possible arrest.
He says he's upset the city's
interim police commissioner, Kevin Davis, hadn't met with the activists
to listen to their demands. "All he had to come upstairs for 10 minutes
and meet with us," Rose told reporters of a meeting Wednesday at the
City Council chambers that led to the protest.
"The
politicians, they failed us today," Rose said of meetings Wednesday to
consider a move to make Davis permanent in his police leadership post.
The activists had opposed that and made other demands.
According to Rose, police gave the small group of activists still inside the building what he said was a "final warning."
Lawrence
Grand Pre, one of the protesters who left after 3 a.m., says about 10
mostly student activists still remained inside and 30 to 40 police
officers were in a hallway near the remaining demonstrators. Protesters
say police read a statement that City Hall was closed.
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2:25 a.m.
Activists
are continuing to occupy City Council chambers overnight, opposed to
the permanent appointment of Kevin Davis, currently the interim police
commissioner.
One of the protesters, Ralikh
Hayes, told The Associated Press by cellphone early Thursday that some
30 demonstrators remained inside and were sleeping in shifts, hours
before dawn. The protesters also sent social media messages asking their
supporters to show up at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Hayes
says police are guarding a door to an upper balcony of the main City
Council chamber where the protesters are located. He says activists have
no food but do have access to water fountains and bathrooms under
police escort.
A City Council subcommittee
voted Thursday to make Davis the permanent police commissioner. Davis
still has to be approved by the full council.
Davis
was made interim commissioner in July after predecessor Anthony Batts
was fired amid a spike in violent crime in Baltimore. The spike followed
unrest and rioting in April prompted by the death of Freddie Gray, a
black man who died after suffering a severe injury in police custody.
---
12:30 a.m.
Five
protesters have left Baltimore City Hall several hours after occupying
City Council chambers with about 30 others to protest a vote in favor of
making the interim police commissioner permanent.
An Associated Press reporter stationed outside saw the five leave shortly after midnight Wednesday.
One of them was 36-year-old Lawrence Brown.
Brown
confirmed that the protesters have a list of demands. He says they want
to challenge what he called the "coronation process" for interim Police
Commissioner Kevin Davis "and ask some critical questions about how
police have handled protests since he's been in charge."
Brown says morale among the protesters is high.
The
occupation began Wednesday evening after a City Council subcommittee
voted to make Davis the permanent commissioner. Davis still has to be
approved by the full council.
Davis was made
interim commissioner in July after his predecessor, Anthony Batts, was
fired amid the most severe violent crime spike the city had seen in 43
years. 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.
