Demonstrators march through Chapel Hill in support of Baltimore
About 200 people held signs and chanted as they peacefully marched through the streets of Chapel Hill Saturday afternoon in support of Baltimore protesters angered by the death of a black man in police custody.
Posted — UpdatedJune Beshea, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she felt the need to do something.
"Watching what was happening in Baltimore really affected me to the point where I could not do my work," she said. "I was telling my friends, like, we have to get out, we have to show them we care. We have to do something."
Beshea, along with her friends, used the power of social media to coordinate a peaceful assembly. Beshea's friend, Mariah Monsanto, was one of the demonstrators.
"I define rioting as being mad because you lost a basketball game. I define what is going on in Baltimore as a revolution," Monsanto said. "Because the people that need to be covered are the people who are being murdered for no reason, and arrested for no reason, and profiled for no reason."
Whitney Witt, a mother from Chapel Hill, brought along her two young sons.
"I think it's really important that our sons grow up to fight for justice and to fight against these inequalities," she said.
Thousands of people have marched in cities across the country in recent days - cities including Durham, Boston, New York and Indianapolis - to protest the April 19 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
Baltimore's top prosecutor announced charges Friday against the six officers in the arrest of Gray.
Gray's arrest was recorded on cellphone videos by bystanders. His death has led to protests, rioting and looting in Baltimore.
According to police, no arrests were made during Saturday's march.
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