Freddie Gray Hearing Protests Lead To Arrest As Baltimore Police Interrupt Courthouse Demonstration

UPDATE, 11:55 a.m. EDT: Judge Barry Glenn Williams denied a motion Wednesday that would have dismissed the charges against the six officers linked to Gray's death, WBAL reported. He also did not recuse prosecutor Marilyn Mosby from the case.

During the hearing, Sun reporter Justin Fenton tweeted that Williams didn't give many indications as to which way he was leaning. At one point, Williams reportedly said Mosby's job was not to "calm the city" when she revealed her intent to charge the officers. But later, he said it had been inappropriate for her to tell reporters that not all of them cooperated with the investigation.

Williams and the attorneys were due to meet again at 2 p.m. EDT to discuss a motion about whether the officers should be tried together or separately, BuzzFeed reporter Nicolás Medina Mora tweeted.

After that, the next hearing was set for Sept. 10, when the attorneys will likely debate whether to change the venue for the trials.

UPDATE, 10:30 a.m. EDT: The Baltimore Police Department confirmed that officers arrested one person Wednesday during protests outside Baltimore City Courthouse East near Pratt and Calvert Streets. The protest group, estimated to include between 50 and 75 people, briefly blocked the road, according to a statement on Facebook.

Original Post: Protests turned into a citizen-police confrontation Wednesday morning near the Baltimore courthouse where attorneys for six police officers were due to appear in the Freddie Gray case. A pretrial hearing was scheduled to settle two motions around the alleged police killing of the unarmed black man -- one that called for prosecutor Marilyn Mosby to be recused and another that would drop the charges against the officers, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Activists gathered outside the Circuit Court for Baltimore City Courthouse East early Wednesday to protest police brutality, chanting phrases like "no justice, no peace." "We want to get our message out that the people of Baltimore want justice and that we are opposed to dropping any of the charges on the six police, moving the trial venue, or removing the Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby from this case," Sharon Black of the People's Power Assembly told WBAL in a statement.

Shortly after 9:30 a.m. EDT, the hearing's designated start time, Twitter users posted messages that officers had begun telling the demonstrators to disperse or be arrested. Police reportedly wore riot gear and arrested activist Kwame Rose, for whom they then called an ambulance.

Baltimore police had already canceled all officers' leave for Wednesday and Sept. 10, the next pretrial hearing in the Gray case. They told WBAL they wanted to be prepared for any riots similar to the ones that occurred after Gray's death in April. "We have hindsight, and we would rather err on the side of caution and have people ready, if needed," police spokesman T.J. Smith said.

The six officers, all of whom have pleaded not guilty, are Officer Caesar R. Goodson, Officer William G. Porter, Lt. Brian W. Rice, Sgt. Alicia D. White, Officer Edward M. Nero and Officer Garrett E. Mille. They were accused of a variety of crimes, including second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault for the death of Gray.