Baltimore Burns after Freddie Gray Laid to Rest; Mayor Issues State of Emergency
2015/04/28 – On Monday morning, 25-year-old Freddie Gray was buried, and later that same day, protesters gathered to express their collective frustration with his death while in police custody.
Freddie Gray was laid to rest Monday morning, and Monday evening Baltimore was ablaze.
According to the Baltimore Sun, some 27 protesters were arrested and more than a dozen police officers were injured in separate incidents. Police confirmed to the Sun that shots were fired at police around 10 p.m.
“Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who—in a very senseless way—are trying to tear down what so many have fought for,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said.
Rawlings-Blake instituted a citywide curfew beginning Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. “for adults and 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. for children aged 14 and younger,” the Sun reports. The curfew is expected to last into next week. After Monday’s violence, which included about a dozen businesses being looted or damaged, it was announced that Baltimore City Public Schools would be canceling Tuesday classes.
Rawlings-Blake and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency, activating the Maryland National Guard.
“I have not made this decision lightly,” Hogan said. “The National Guard represents a last resort.”
On April 19, Freddie Gray was arrested by police. While in police custody, he suffered a severe spinal cord injury and would die a week later. An investigation into his death is ongoing, and Rawlings-Blake has said that she will make the investigation into his death transparent.
“I want y’all to get justice for my son, but don’t do it like this here,” Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden, told CNN Monday evening.
Gray’s twin sister, Fredericka, told the news station that she doesn’t believe the violence and looting were for her brother. “I don’t think that’s for Freddie,” she said. “I think the violence is wrong.”
The Rev. Jamal Bryant delivered Gray’s eulogy earlier Monday. Once the protesting became heated, Bryant returned to the neighborhood, telling the New York Times that he was sending the “men from his church, the Empowerment Temple, to help keep the peace.”
“This is not what the family asked for, today of all days,” Bryant told the Times. “For us to come out of the burial and walk into this is absolutely inexcusable.”
Source: The Root Magazine
