Riots, looting in Baltimore as protests turn violent

Baltimore: Rioters destroyed cars and looted stores in Baltimore on Monday after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American whose death in custody has reignited outrage over US police conduct towards blacks.

At least seven officers were injured -- one of them was unresponsive -- as youths hurled bricks and bottles at police, ransacked stores and taverns, trashed police vehicles and set other cars on fire.

Local and state police in riot gear, using tear gas, struggled to restore order as the rioters veered off in different directions, refusing to heed dispersal orders. One news photographer was seen being attacked by youths.

State governor Larry Hogan said the Maryland National Guard had been placed on alert in case they are needed to stem the violence, and the Baltimore Orioles postponed their evening game as a precaution.

"We have seven officers injured during the course of this. They have broken bones; one is unresponsive," Baltimore police spokesman Captain Eric Kowalczyk told reporters.

"You´re going to see tear gas... We´re going to use appropriate methods to ensure that we´re able to preserve the safety of that community."

NBC affiliate WBAL reported there had been at least one arrest in the melee.


- ´Absolutely inexcusable´ -


Rioting erupted soon after Gray was buried -- possibly spurred by a cryptic message on social media declaring an after-school "purge," which is street slang for random acts of lawlessness.

Fear of unrest prompted the University of Maryland´s downtown campus, corporate offices and the city´s famous Lexington Market to shut down early.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the rapidly evolving situation by his newly sworn in Attorney General Loretta Lynch and city mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the White House said.

Thousands had converged on New Shiloh Baptist church in Baltimore´s poverty-ridden Sandtown neighborhood earlier Monday to pay final respects to Gray, who died on April 19 of severe spinal injuries apparently sustained during his arrest a week earlier.

His death was the latest in a string of high-profile confrontations between African Americans and police, including the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri last year.

Gray´s grieving family had explicitly asked for no protests. "Today of all days, the family was clear this was a day of sacred closure," pastor Jamal Bryant of the city´s Empowerment Temple mega-church, who delivered the eulogy, told reporters as the violence spiralled.

"So for us to come out of the burial and walk into this is absolutely inexcusable. I´m asking every young person to go back home."


- Weekend unrest -


On Saturday, 34 people were arrested, and six police officers injured, when violence erupted after an orderly rally for Gray outside Baltimore city hall, attended by more than 1,000 protesters.

In the hours before Monday´s riots, police announced they had received a "credible threat" that criminal gangs in Baltimore had "entered into a partnership to ´take out´ law enforcement officers."