BALTIMORE—Young, black residents of Baltimore hoped a public act of civil disobedience in the heart of local government would force their troubled city to deal with the decades-old problems of police misconduct, housing inequality, and systemic disenfranchisement.
All they got from their overnight sit-in at City Hall were arrests and trespassing charges.
Many on Thursday said they were frustrated and felt increasingly marginalized and under siege.
“The politicians, they failed us today,” said Kwame Rose, a 21-year-old activist who was one of the protest’s organizers.
More than 30 activists disrupted a meeting Wednesday night where city officials were recommending the permanent hiring of interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis. They demanded a voice in the process. Since the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a critical spinal injury in police custody, the police department and its leaders have taken the brunt of criticism for decades of government failures to address the city’s woes.
Davis was appointed interim chief when his predecessor, Anthony Batts, was fired in the wake of violence after Gray’s death and a sharp spike in homicides.
