Around 100 protesters turned violent after a 2000-strong march in Baltimore to mark the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, smashing windows and throwing bottles of police.
A photographer for the Baltimore City Paper was covering the violence when he was reportedly thrown to the ground by police officers.
Police have just started chasing protestors. #FreddieGray pic.twitter.com/KVVDLVP1OH — jelani cobb (@jelani9) April 25, 2015
JM Giordano, the paper’s photo editor, said his face was “pretty much smushed down on the ground” after police rushed at him while he worked.
"They just took me down," he said.
Footage posted online by the City Paper shows the incident, with a voice off screen repeatedly shouting ‘he’s a photographer”.
A photographer for Reuters was also reportedly detained.
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said officers arrested 12 people who ignored orders to disperse and at least one officer was hurt in the skirmishes.
‘Violence does not get justice’
Fredericka Gray, Freddie's twin sister, joined Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake at a news conference where she urged people to keep calm.
"Freddie's father and mother do not want violence, violence does not get justice," she said.
Gray died April 19 after suffering a spinal injury while in police custody.
With his death, Gray joined a long list of black men who have died under questionable circumstances during police encounters in recent months. The highly publicized incidents have triggered an outcry over the use of force by law enforcement against African-Americans.
Officers suspended
Last year, weeks of protests followed the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City.
Six Baltimore police officers have been suspended in the Gray case, and an internal police investigation is under way.
Much of the violence occurred near the Camden Yards ballpark, where the Baltimore Orioles played the Boston Red Sox as scheduled. Towards the end of the game, fans were told to stay in place because of safety concerns.
Protesters are calling for the prosecution of the six officers involved in Gray's arrest and a reform of policing tactics.
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