Stones Hurled at Baltimore Police in Protests After Freddie Gray Funeral
Baltimore
descended into chaos Monday with widespread rioting, arson and looting,
just hours after the funeral of Freddie Gray, prompting Maryland Gov.
Larry Hogan to declare a state of emergency.
Tensions have been high
in Baltimore for a week; Gray died on April 19 with a severed spine that
occurred while he was in police custody.
The post-funeral
demonstrations became more tumultuous as the afternoon wore on, with a
police car and van being torched and several storefront windows broken. A
CVS pharmacy, which had been looted after its windows were smashed, was
then set ablaze.
Another van was set on fire and protesters forced firefighters to retreat from the scene, leaving the vehicle to burn.
Baltimore police later tweeted that demonstrators cut a fire hose to prevent firefighters from putting out a blaze.
The Baltimore Sun
reported the initial gathering stemmed from a flier distributed on
social media calling for a "purge" to take place at 3 p.m., starting at
the Mondawmin Mall and ending downtown.
The meme is based on the movie "The Purge," which imagines what would happen if there were no laws, the according to the Sun.
The flier featured an image of protesters breaking the window of a police car in a disturbance on Saturday, the paper said.
The Baltimore Emergency
Operations Center was opened and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan put the
National Guard on alert in case they are needed to respond.
"I strongly condemn the
actions of the offenders who are engaged in direct attacks against
innocent civilians, businesses and law enforcement officers," Hogan said
in a statement. "There is a significant difference between protesting
and violence and those committing these acts will be prosecuted under
the fullest extent of the law.
On the day she was sworn
into office, Attorney General Loretta Lynch briefed President Barack
Obama on the unfolding events in the Charm City.
"Attorney General Lynch
assured the President that she would continue to monitor events in
Baltimore and that the Department of Justice stands ready to provide any
assistance that might be helpful there," the White House said in a
statement.
A police spokesman at an impromptu news conference said seven cops had been injured; one had been knocked unconscious.
"We will find the people responsible and put them in jail," he said. "They attacked officers without provocation."
Baltimore cops took to Twitter to try to keep the situation from spiraling out of control.
"Several juveniles are
part of these aggressive groups. WE ARE ASKING ALL PARENTS TO LOCATE
THEIR CHILDREN AND BRING THEM HOME," read a tweet on the official
Baltimore Police Twitter feed.
The Rev. Jamal Bryant,
who earlier delivered a eulogy at Gray's funeral, said the violence was
not what was needed "just hours out of the burial."
"I'm asking every young person to go home," Bryant told reporters.
He also took to Twitter
to ask Baltimore clergy to come to respond to the mall at the center of
the mayhem to help calm the situation.
"Clergy!!!.....we need
to be in The streets right NOW!!" Bryant tweeted, adding later, "All
disciplined brothers both Muslim & Christian we are one army
today...we must reclaim this situation! Come to Mindawmin now!!"
Billy Murphy, an attorney for the family of Freddie Gray said they were in shock watching the violence in Baltimore.
Patrick Semansky / AP
"They don't want this movement nationally to be marred by violence," he said. "It makes no sense."
His firm posted the
following statement its FaceBook page: "Freddie Gray's family is
watching the looting and rioting and is upset, sad, angry. They are
begging people to stop this."
Cops initially shooed ticket holders inside Camden Yards for a game between the Orioles and the White Sox, but around 6:30, the Orioles announced the game would be postponed.
And the Maryland State police sent 42 troopers to assist in Baltimore with another 40 set to respond.
Earlier, Baltimore
police said several gangs, including the Black Guerilla Family, Bloods,
and Crips formed a partnership to "take out" law enforcement officers.
The police said in a press release they consider the gang rumblings a "credible threat," but offered no specifics.
The threats were enough
to spur the LAPD to order its officers to ride in pair rather than solo
"out of an abundance of caution" for their officers.
At Gray's funeral, Bryant urged mourners to join the protests that have occurred in the wake of Gray's death on April 19.
"Freddie's death is not
in vain," Bryant said. "After this day, we're going to keep on marching.
After this day, we're going to keep demanding justice."
But some of the protests
got out of hand Monday afternoon with police reporting more than 2,000
protesters throwing rocks and debris at officers in the area
Gray was arrested after a
foot pursuit on April 12 and was seen on video yelling as he was hauled
into a police van. After a stop to shackle his feet, Gray arrived at a
police station house with his spinal column 80 percent severed. He died a
week later.
Officials have promised an exhaustive investigation with results due on May 1.
Jose Luis Magana / AP
6 comments:
They talk about every way to de-escalate violence? Here is a good one they haven't tried.. send cops home instead of filling the streets with riot gear wearing cops! If you don't bait the violence, then you will not get it!
She just mentioned that Rev. Sharpton would be welcomed if he showed up??? That will really get things going downhill!!!
Here is another idea.. Fire all cops with an IQ under 120 and ignore the law that prevents cops from being hired with an IQ over 89!
Ok. This is a PRIME EXAMPLE of IDIOTS! You don't RIOT, You don't burn shit down. You don't destroy peoples PROPERTY! All of these simply bring the whole thing down to your level. (the bottom). Protest? Sure. But PEACEFUL! You will get far more respect from a peaceful protest than you ever will by being IDIOTS! You want martial law imposed? THAT is exactly how you get it done!
GO HOME until you cool off. Then go back and PEACEFULLY protest.
Truth be told however, protests rarely change anything anyway. Learn. Educate yourself. There are ways to deal with this stuff without destroying innocent people's property. Those people that owned the CVS pharmacy had absolutely NOTHING to do with the event. They just happened to be close by. Now, they have suffered losses into the millions of dollars because of IDIOTS! The looters/rioters/etc. should be completely ASHAMED of themselves!
Sorry for the rant, but dadgummit, people just need to settle down!
Was the guy treated poorly in police custody? Absolutely. Did he die in police custody? Absolutely. Get the evidence. Factual, verifiable evidence, put together an Affidavit of Truth containing the evidence and serve the papers on the perpetrators of the deed. When they cannot rebut, they LOSE. Name your damages. Simple as that. No broken windows. No burned buildings. No innocent losses or damages.
JMHO - YMMV
DS
PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW WELL BY NOW THE UNPEACEFUL PROTESTORS ARE BUSED IN BY FEMA ETC, TO RIOT, BURN THINGS DOWN AND CAUSE MASS DESTRUCTION!!!!
WHY? SO THE U.N. PROTECTORATE CAN DECLARE MARTIAL LAW....AND THEN SEND IN ALL THE MILITARY COMMANDS TO SECURE THE CITY MAKING IT SAFE AGAIN. ANYONE WHO DOUBTS THIS NEEDS TO ONLY LOOK UP PAST EVENTS, NORTHWOODS, KATRINA AND OTHERWISE!
As I was reading the last comment of JMHO-YMMV I was just going to comment on what you just said ANON 11:15. You are exactly right. They are provocateurs hired by the government to bring in an agenda. I wish people would wake up.
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