Baltimore Riots: Media Ignored Peaceful Freddie Gray Protests For A Week, Only Arrived Once Riots Began

As National Guard troops moved into Baltimore to subdue the escalated violence that has so far resulted in 202 arrests and 144 vehicle and 15 building fires, via the Baltimore Sun, the sobering reality of both the violence and the reason for the violence has once again enveloped America.

Thousands of people have been taking to the streets ever since 25-year-old Freddie Gray died following his arrest. Gray was originally arrested on April 12. One bystander, who was connected to Gray, insisted that officers were “folding” the suspect, stating that one had Gray’s legs bent backwards while another pressed his knee against Gray’s neck.

An hour after being taken into custody Gray was in a coma, and in the following days his family explained that his spine was “80% severed” at his neck, while he also had three fractured vertebrae, and his larynx was impaired. A week after his arrest, on April 19, 2015, Gray died from his injuries.

Since then, the anger and injustice that has been simmering in Baltimore has been slowly growing. At first, these took the form of peaceful protests, but since April 25 they have been more and more violent. It was only at this point that the mainstream media stepped in and truly started to report on these issues. And now, the American musician Propaganda released a tweet that perfectly summed up these problems, and it has since gone viral.

Citizens of Baltimore been peacefully protesting for WEEKS. Not one news camera came till somethin was on fire. What u think that teaches?

— propaganda (@prophiphop) April 27, 2015

The peaceful protests originally began on April 21, 2015. According to Reuters, hundreds of individuals originally gathered outside the city’s Western District police headquarters. They then made their way towards the location where Gray was arrested, which was just a few blocks away. Local media insisted that protests was peaceful.

However, the incident was soon needlessly exacerbated when Gene Ryan, the Baltimore police union president, compared these protests to a “lynch mob” because they’d insisted that the six officers involved should be jailed immediately.

“The images seen on television look and sound much like a lynch mob in that they are calling for the immediate imprisonment of these officers without them ever receiving the due process that is the Constitutional right of every citizen, including law enforcement officers.”

Ryan also questioned the “rhetoric of the protests,” which he was heavily criticised for inflaming racial tension with his use of the term “lynch mobs.” Ryan has since defended his statement, but admitted it was worded poorly.

More protests were organized over the ensuing days. And despite the fact that these protests were conducted in a civilised, organized and non-violent manner they didn’t manage to attract widespread press attention. However, since April 25, when an official protests became violence as police were pelted with rocks, the media has flocked to the city, and the violence has only become more and more extreme.

[Image via HNGN]