BALTIMORE
Protests over a black man's death while in police custody continued in Baltimore on Thursday, as demonstrators marched from City Hall to a police station.
At least two protesters were arrested during Thursday's rally for justice for Freddie Gray who died from a suffered severe spinal cord injury sustained in police custody.
An Anadolu Agency reporter at the scene said one of suspect was taken to a police van, followed by a brief but intense confrontation between police and protesters who surrounded the vehicle.
Some protesters hurled water bottles at police.
"Hands Up, Don't Shoot!" and "Black Lives Matter" were chanted as about 200 protesters blocked traffic during their 8-mile march throughout the city.
The slogans have become rallying cries for protesters following a series of high-profile police-involved killings of unarmed blacks in Missouri, New York and Ohio.
Gray had been held by police since April 12 for allegedly having an illegal switchblade in his pocket. He died seven days later.
Cell phone video of the arrest showed Gray with his hands behind his back, screaming as police lifted him to his feet and dragged him into a transport van.
Gray's death came on the heels of a string of recent police-involved killings of black suspects across the country, including deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York and Walter Scott in South Carolina among others.
The incidents have stirred racial tensions, setting off nationwide protests over perceived injustices within the U.S. justice system.
The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it launched an investigation to determine whether any civil rights violations occurred during Gray's arrest and death.
Baltimore police have suspended with pay six officers pending an investigation.
Meanwhile, the family of Michael Brown filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the Ferguson police department and the officer who fatally shot the unarmed black teen, according to family attorneys.
“The bottom line is this: Officer Darren Wilson did not have to use this deadly force on that sad afternoon,” attorney Benjamin Crump told reporters in Clayton, Missouri.
The August 2014 fatal shooting death of the 18-year-old sent shockwaves across the nation, turning the St. Louis County suburb into a focal point of a national debate on race relations and police brutality.
The incident ignited fierce street protests and elicited an initially heavy-handed police crackdown on protesters.
