Protests against police brutality hold in several cities

onnaedo

April 30, 2015 12:20 PM

Although the protests have been largely peaceful, police in New York have arrested about 60 demonstrators as emotions started to run high.

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Following the death of Freddie Gray, the young, black man who died in police custody in Baltimore a few hours after he was arrested on Sunday April 12th, protests against police brutality have held across cities in the United States.

While the biggest show of people power was in Baltimore itself, where several thousand young demonstrators held a major rally which paralysed several city blocks, reports say thousands equally gathered in New York, Boston, Minneapolis and United States capital, Washington DC.

Al Jazeera reports that at the main train station in Baltimore, there were black and white demonstrators; most of whom were high school or college students who linked arms and chanted "No justice, no peace! No racists, no peace!"

In New York, protesters gathered at Union Square, in Lower Manhattan, for a rally dubbed on a Facebook page, "NYC Rise up and Shut it down with Baltimore."

Since the shooting of black teenager, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last summer, a national debate over the use of police force has been going on sparking several protests including these latest ones.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the death of Gray, who suffered fatal spinal injuries when arrested by police.

His funeral took place on Monday and was followed by widespread rioting, arson and looting which led to the imposition of a curfew on the streets of Baltimore from 22:00 to 05:00.

onnaedo