[ 2015-04-28 ]

State of emergency as race rioters rampage through Baltimore
Riots erupted in Baltimore yesterday after the
funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man
whose death in custody triggered a fresh wave of
protests over police tactics in the United
States.
Gangs of youths attacked police, set buildings on
fire, smashed cars and looted stores during a
night of violence in which 27 people were
arrested.
A total of 15 police were wounded, six seriously,
following running battles with mainly
African-American youths who threw rocks and bricks
at officers.
Maryland’s governor declared a state of
emergency, and ordered 10,000 extra police and
National Guard into the city in a show of
“massive force”.
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the mayor Baltimore,
also imposed a 10pm curfew in the city beginning
tonight.
“Too many people have spent generations building
up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs,”
she said.
Unrest began just blocks from where thousands had
gathered peacefully earlier in the day for the
funeral of Mr Gray, who died of a spinal injury in
police custody this month.
It later spread across much of West Baltimore, in
a night and anger and disorder that drew
comparisons to the fiery protests against police
violence against black people in Ferguson,
Missouri, last year.
Demonstrators lobbed rocks and bottles at riot
police, who were forced to stand back and watch as
the rioters torched police cars and smashed car
windows.
As the afternoon wore on, gangs of youths moved to
looting stores, and some managed to rip the doors
off a police cruiser.
We went in there and tore it up,” said Tyrone
Jackson, 16, wearing a hoodie, who said he had
just looted the pharmacy.
Rioters also slashed fire fighters’ water hoses
as they tried to put out a blaze at a pharmacy
store.
Police said that looting, blazes and attacks
against officers continued through the night,
while fire fighters battled with several burning
buildings into Monday evening.
Mr Gray’s family denounced the violence while
the Rev Jamal Bryant, who officiated at the
funeral, called on the youths to go home.
“This is not what the family asked for,” he
said.
“Today of all days, the family was clear this
was a day of sacred closure,” he said. “So for
us to come out of the burial and walk into this is
absolutely inexcusable.”
Others in the city said that seething anger since
the death of Mr Gray was bound to boil over,
exacerbated by arrests at recent peaceful
protests.
“All this had to happen, people getting tired of
the police killing the young black guys for no
reason,” said Tony Luster, 40, who was out on
the street watching the police line.
Mr Gray was arrested on April 12 and witnesses
described him being beaten severely by police, and
seeing one officer kneeling on the back of his
neck.
A bystander recorded mobile phone video of the
moment the victim was dragged limp and crying out
in pain into the back of a police van. Hours after
the arrest, Mr Gray slipped into a coma, and
within a week, he was dead, after an injury in
custody his family said left his spine 80 per cent
severed.
Six officers have been suspended, and the US
Justice Department is investigating the incident
for possible civil rights violations.
Mr Gray’s death reignited public outrage over
the spate of deaths of young black men at the
hands of police across the US.
His funeral was a charged affair in which
thousands packed into the 2,200 seat church which
had “Black lives matter and all lives matter”
projected on the wall for a ceremony which drew
national coverage and even a special envoy from
the White House.
In September President Obama tried to make sense
of the outrage in the black community. “Too many
young men of colour feel targeted by law
enforcement — guilty of walking while black or
driving while black, judged by stereotypes that
fuel fear and resentment,” he said.
In December Mr Obama announced a special White
House taskforce on 21st-century policing”, which
he charged with strengthening trust and
collaboration between police and the communities
they serve.

Source - The Times(UK)

... go Back