BALTIMORE: National Guardsmen fanned out across the city, police with riot shields blocked streets, and firefighters doused smoldering blazes Tuesday after looting and arson erupted in Baltimore following the funeral of a black man who died in police custody.
It was the first time the National Guard was called in to quell unrest in Baltimore since 1968, when some of the same neighborhoods were convulsed by violence after the assassination of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.
The rioting started in West Baltimore on Monday afternoon – within a mile of where Freddie Gray, 25, was arrested and placed into a police van earlier this month – and by midnight had spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods close to downtown and near the baseball stadium.
At least 15 officers were hurt, including six who were hospitalized, police said. There were 144 vehicle fires, 15 structure fires and nearly 200 arrests, the mayor’s office said.
The streets were calm Tuesday morning. Residents came out to sweep up the broken glass and other debris. Firefighters could be seen spraying the burned-out shell of a large building.
“We’re not going to leave the city unprotected,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vowed during a visit in the morning to a West Baltimore intersection that on Monday was littered with burning cars, a smashed police vehicle and broken glass.
Gray’s death under still-mysterious circumstances has become the latest flashpoint in the nation’s debate over the use of police force against black men.
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