BALTIMORE — A largely peaceful protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, gave way to scattered scenes of chaos Saturday night as demonstrators smashed a downtown storefront window and damaged police cruisers, while officers broke up skirmishes and made arrests near Camden Yards.
Hours earlier, a racially diverse and mostly calm crowd of demonstrators marched through the streets, clogging intersections, carrying signs, and shouting, "All night, all day, we're gonna fight for Freddie Gray!" Some had come from New York and Ferguson, Mo., and local authorities had warned against "outside agitators'' coming to stir up trouble.
The demonstrators traveled from West Baltimore, from the squat brick public housing development where Gray was arrested April 12, through the downtown harborfront, before massing on a plaza at City Hall, where one of the speakers told the crowd he would release them in an hour, adding: "Shut it down if you want to! Shut it down!"
Daily protests have swept across the city since Gray died last Sunday, but Saturday's turnout was among the largest.
The trouble began when a group of protesters, as many as 100 by some accounts, split from the main group near the end of the protest and went on a rampage — throwing cans, bottles, and trash cans at police officers and breaking windows in some businesses. As the breakaway group reached Camden Yards, where the Baltimore Orioles played the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night, they were met by police officers in riot gear.
There were reports of damage to some cars parked at the baseball stadium. As the game went into extra innings, the public address system initially warned spectators not to leave the ballpark because of the nearby violence.
As protesters blocked the corner of Pratt and Light streets, a major downtown intersection, the police urged demonstrators to remain peaceful. Its Twitter feed reported "isolated pockets of people from out of town causing disturbances downtown.''
The police said people were throwing items at officers and several of their cars had been damaged. The Associated Press reported two people were injured in the disturbance and about a dozen were arrested.
The department spokesman, Captain J. Eric Kowalczyk, told a television station the police were determined to protect the protesters' rights to "peaceful expression,'' adding, "Our strategy from the beginning has been to make sure that people have the opportunity to voice that frustration that they're feeling.''
The main protest drew a racially diverse crowd. Organizers included the New Black Panther Party, the World Socialist Party, and the Peoples Power Assemblies. There were also scores of college students among the several thousand who joined the march, along with children and seniors.
"I want outside people to come in," Carron Morgan, 18, a first cousin of Gray, said as he watched people gather Saturday afternoon at the Gilmor Homes to listen to the first of the day's speeches. "But I want them to understand that we don't want to harm any police officers. We just want justice." Morgan, a student at Baltimore City Community College, said he had helped plan the protest. Asked what he expected from it, he said: "I just hope that before the funeral, the state and the federal government step up and bring these police to justice."
The funeral for Gray, 25, is scheduled for Monday.
On Friday, the Baltimore police commissioner said his officers should have sought medical attention for Gray much sooner than they did, but that admission, the first from police officials, was not enough to satisfy the protesters. They continued their demands for the firing of six officers involved in Gray's arrest and the resignation of the commissioner, Anthony W. Batts.
The six officers were suspended with pay while the Baltimore Police Department carries out a criminal investigation. The Justice Department also is reviewing the case for possible civil rights violations. Gray's family has hired a third party to conduct an independent investigation.
In her first public comments since Gray's death, his twin sister, Fredricka, appealed for calm as she appeared with the mayor at a conference Saturday night.
''My family wants to say, can you all please, please stop the violence?'' she said. ''Freddie Gray would not want this. ... Violence does not get justice.''