by Our Foreign Desk

THOUSANDS of people took to the streets of Baltimore on Saturday after hearing the news that six US police officers involved in the death of 25-year-old black man Freddie Gray would face criminal charges.

But rather than the the tense stand-offs of prevous days, the assembly resembled a spontaneous thousands-strong street party throughout the day which saw people marching, singing and dancing in the streets.

There was an upbeat mood at a march from the housing projects where Mr Gray was arrested last month to a plaza in front of City Hall.

In that plaza, chief prosecutor Marilyn Mosby had announced on Friday that police involved in the killing, three of whom were white and three black, would face charges ranging from second-degree murder to assault.

Ms Mosby said the Maryland state medical examiner had ruled Mr Gray’s death a homicide. She admitted that Mr Gray had been unlawfully arrested and that the arresting officers had repeatedly ignored his pleas for medical help while he was handcuffed and shackled face down in the back of a police van.

But Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police president Gene Ryan said he was disappointed with “the apparent rush to judgment” and insisted that the officers had done nothing wrong.

And others remembered, amid the general rejoicing, that serious business was in hand. “We will gather in peace and we will march in peace and we will march until police brutality ends in the United States,” Black Lawyers for Justice president Malik Shabazz reminded the marchers.

Despite the change of mood, police still made at least a dozen arrests of people violating the 10pm curfew, which remained in place.

Hundreds of protesters had breached the curfew and police in riot gear confronted crowds of demonstrators as the stay-home order went into effect.

For several nights protesters had defied the curfew, imposed after riots earlier in the week, prompting numerous arrests.

But, on Saturday, despite some curfew arrests, no-one could miss the growing sense that times were changing.

It will now be up to the authorities to live up to their promises.