Two people are facing charges after a planned demonstration outside Baltimore Police headquarters Thursday night escalated, authorities said.

A crowd of 15 to 20 protesters rallied outside the department’s downtown headquarters to mark a National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. It was among protests held in cities around the country, including Newark, Albuquerque and Minneapolis. The protest was peaceful until a few protesters began banging on the windows and door of the Bishop L. Robinson Sr. Police Administration Building, according to police.

At that point, additional officers responded, police said. At least one officer deployed mace, and two protesters were taken into custody. A large police presence, including multiple vehicles with flashing lights, remained as the rest of the group left.

Two people were charged with assault, disorderly conduct, failure to obey police and resisting/interfering with arrest, police said.

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Police said they were aware of the demonstration in advance. It was promoted on social media by Justice for Donnell Rochester, an Instagram account run by the family of an 18-year-old who was shot and killed by Baltimore Police after a traffic stop in 2022.

Rochester’s mother, Danielle Brown, wasn’t able to attend the protest due to an illness, despite remaining active in organizing protest efforts around her son’s death.

City officials in January 2023 declined to press charges against the officers who fired at Rochester, saying they acted in self-defense after he drove in the direction of an officer. The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division released a lengthy report the same month, noting that the officer had been trained to avoid getting in the path of a vehicle and that it’s almost never effective to shoot at a moving car.

Banner reporter Darreonna Davis contributed to this story