It was a bad day for transparency at Baltimore’s City Hall.

Not only did uniformed police officers eject chanting protesters and the news media from a public meeting under threat of arrest, but viewers who tuned in to the city government cable channel were blocked from watching them do it.

The Channel 25 “Charm TV” live feed that typically broadcasts weekly City Council meetings suddenly went dark for the four to five minutes when police cleared the room.

A static blue and white screen popped up while music played in the background.

What did the viewers at home miss?

For one thing, they missed a “mic check” led by high school student Makayla Gilliam-Price, an organizer with City Bloc who was arrested at City Hall after a Wednesday night protest at a council committee hearing on the new police commissioner’s contract.

Tonight, the 17-year-old organizer and about 25 people stood and spoke loudly at the full Council meeting on the action:

“As students [as students] were not heard [were not heard] during this hearing [during this hearing] we have [we have] multiple times [multiple times] asked that our voices [asked that our voices] be included [be included],” she and the crowd chanted tonight.

In the background, City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young’s voice could be heard shouting “Order! Order!” as he pounded his gavel.

“Pursuant to rule 7-2, I hereby recess this meeting for five minutes and ask the police to remove the disorderly individuals,” Young said.

“If we don’t get it, shut it down,” the protesters chanted.

“I want ’em all removed,” Young said, as police officers emerged from a side room and advanced from the back of the chamber.

They began herding the crowd into the center aisle and out the door where other protesters and dozens of police officers were waiting.

“We need you to move along,” they said. “We need you to proceed to the exit.”

Mayor’s Chief of Staff on Hand

Once the protesters were outside the Council chamber door, police officers barred anyone from going in or out.

In the lounge area, there was jostling and shouting as officers ordered protesters to exit.

Reporters, photographers, television camera crews and any member of the public who happened to be there was told, likewise, to move toward the staircase. (One officer physically steered this reporter – not roughly, but quite firmly – toward the exit.)

When almost all of the crowd was gone, Kaliope Parthemos, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s chief of staff, popped out of the Council chamber door, looked around and scurried back in.

At about that time the meetings resumed its regular agenda – and the Channel 25 live television coverage resumed as well.

Asked via email why the city government public access programming was cut off – and who ordered that it be interrupted – Parthemos and the mayor’s spokesman Howard Libit have not replied.

After being ejected from City Hall, about 75 of the demonstrators continued to McKeldin Square.

“No justice no peace, no racist police,” they shouted, as they walked through downtown Baltimore.

Appointment Sails Through Council



If there was drama surrounding the ejection of the public from the meeting – (no criminal were charges filed today, unlike Wednesday’s action which resulted in 16 arrests) there was little mystery about what the council would do.

By a vote of 12-2, as expected, they approved a five-year contract for Interim Commissioner Kevin Davis, voting “yes” on a measure that removes the “interim” from Davis’ title and guarantees a severance package should he be dismissed “without cause.”

Also known beforehand was Young’s intention to shut down the council chambers’ “balcony,” an overflow space where members of the public can watch proceedings.

Speaking earlier in the day at the council’s pre-meeting lunch, Young had said the balcony was in poor repair.

(Last night a half dozen uniformed police officers could be seen up there standing on it.)

Balcony Blocked Off

Protesters at City Hall last night reacted to Young’s action with a collective eye-roll, saying it had more to do with the sit-in staged by protesters on Wednesday which ended with 16 people being removed from the building and arrested for trespassing.

“It’s insulting. It’s disrespectful to us,” said Adam Jackson, of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, speaking outside before the meeting.

But Lester Davis, Young’s spokesman, told reporters there was a legitimate reason his boss closed the balcony.

“There was concern about broken chairs up there – going back to September,” he said. “I found an email trail.”

Davis said that on Wednesday some of the protesters were standing on chairs and might have been hurt.

He also said housing activist Christina Flowers had been at a meeting earlier this year and a chair had broken and she was hurt.

“That broken chair thing was downstairs, not in the balcony!” said Flowers, who happened to be at last night’s meeting. “The chair broke and I fell on my bottom. That’s too much!”

“Not Going Away”

Jackson, Gilliam-Price and the other organizers said they had hoped the meeting would be something of a celebration.

Over the weekend, they met with Davis at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church and discussed their concerns.

Jackson said Davis ultimately agreed to their 19-point list of demands regarding police “rules of engagement” with protesters. The students said they were able to explain some of their more controversial demands, which Gilliam-Price said were taken out of context. The one about not arresting students for throwing a water bottle, for instance, she said, had been misunderstood.

“We were only asking that the police not escalate a situation that started with a small catalyst,” she said.

“In the end Davis agreed to everything and even added one more”point, Jackson said. They said he promised to email them a copy of the post-meeting statement, but he never did.

And the statement Davis released today to the media never mentioned the accord the students said they reached on the 19 demands.

“Over the weekend, I met with grassroot[s] protest organizers to discuss matters of mutual concern regarding police-protestor interactions,” Davis said in the emailed remarks.

“We ultimately want the same thing: a safe and peaceful environment where citizens can exercise their Constitutional rights. We’ve taken steps to ensure a better flow of communication, and I look forward to a constructive and productive relationship moving forward.”

The students said they felt betrayed by Davis’ comment.

“It showed us he doesn’t respect us,” Gilliam-Price said. “We realize we will have to continue to make our voices heard. We have to continue to watch him. We are not going away.”