Democratic Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says she is confused about the purpose of a City Hall demonstration by student and community activists.
More than 30 people held a sit-in for eight hours and, ultimately, 16 were arrested early Thursday. Protesters said they wanted Rawlings-Blake and interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis to meet with them to discuss demands for demonstrators' First Amendment rights, the firing of the city's housing commissioner and the investment of millions of dollars in city schools.
After attending an event Thursday afternoon at a community center, Rawlings-Blake said she wasn't "clear on their goals."
She says the protesters requested a meeting with Davis, he agreed to meet with them Friday and he gave them his cellphone number to arrange the meeting. Rawlings-Blake says that, "instead of using that as an opportunity for communication, they tweeted his phone number to the world."
Interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis says in a perfect world, the people arrested during a sit-in at City Hall "probably wouldn't have stayed that long."
Davis spoke Thursday on "The Norris and Davis Show" on WJZ-FM. Steve Davis and Ed Norris, a former Baltimore police commissioner, host the broadcast.
Police arrested 16 people on trespassing charges early Thursday after an eight-hour demonstration. Demonstrators refused to leave following a hearing by a City Council committee on Davis' nomination to the top police job.
Davis says the arrests were "the last thing we wanted to do." He says that, "in a perfect world, they probably wouldn't have stayed that long."
Baltimore police say 16 people, including three juveniles, have been charged with trespassing after a protest at City Hall.
On Thursday morning, police released the names of the protesters, who range in age from 16 to 38. Most are from Baltimore, but the group includes a 26-year-old from nearby Columbia and a 38-year-old from Burtonsville, in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
Supporters gathered at City Hall Thursday morning to demand the protesters' release, hours after the group refused to leave City Hall when a City Council subcommittee voted to keep on the interim police commissioner.
Tawanda Jones, whose brother Tyrone West died after a confrontation with Baltimore police following a traffic stop in 2013, is among the protesters, holding a sign that reads: "Jail for Killer Cops." Jones says protesters are trying to hold the police accountable. She says their voices are not being heard "and that's disgusting."
Five protesters have left Baltimore City Hall several hours after occupying City Council chambers with about 30 others to protest a vote in favor of making the interim police commissioner permanent.
An Associated Press reporter stationed outside saw the five leave shortly after midnight Wednesday.
One of them was 36-year-old Lawrence Brown.
Brown confirmed that the protesters have a list of demands. He says they want to challenge what he called the "coronation process" for interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis "and ask some critical questions about how police have handled protests since he's been in charge."
Brown says morale among the protesters is high.
The occupation began Wednesday evening after a City Council subcommittee voted to make Davis the permanent commissioner. Davis still has to be approved by the full council.
Davis was made interim commissioner in July after his predecessor, Anthony Batts, was fired amid the most severe violent crime spike the city had seen in 43 years. The spike followed unrest and rioting in April prompted by the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after suffering a critical injury in police custody.
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