Baltimore, Maryland
 

Violence and unrest are escalating tonight in this city.

Reports on Twitter:

1. CVS Pharmacy on fire.
2. Maryland's governor has issued a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.
3. 7 police officers injured.
4. University of Maryland on lockdown

https://twitter.com/AP

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Baltimor...06031824031744



Report from last night, as it states the police were even assaulting members of the press:
https://twitter.com/chicagotribune/s...72419605745665


Yes, this has escalated from a protest to a full-blown riot.

Peaceful protesting is logical; rioting is not.

Baltimore mayor has set a weeklong curfew, effective 4/28: 10pm-5am.

The mayor is a dumbass. Hopefully the Governor can relieve her of duties so this can get sorted out quickly.

"We gave those who wished to destroy space to do so.." Well she can pat herself on the back because Baltimore is burning. She should never be allowed to live that one down. SMH.

Shame on the officers who played any role in the negligence Freddie Gray's medical needs and shame on Baltimore residents who are destroying property in the community and injuring people.

https://ricochet.com/the-mayor-of-ba...hink-she-said/

Thanks for the clarification, robbinseggblue. I didn't think the mayor would say or mean what was previously attributed to her.

#policebodycamsnow.

Interesting. Anderson Cooper was reporting earlier this evening that she had made that statement so thanks for posting. I still think the police should have been more proactive in stopping things from escalating. I was watching the footage of them just standing back while these looters were trashing the place. Once protests turn violent you need to shut it down, asap. Letting people "express" themselves violently always ends up with the mob growing in size.

Last night on CNN, there were several Omega Psi Phi brothers shown/interviewed who were walking the streets, trying to keep things from escalating, protecting businesses from further rioting. I can't kind any links/articles about it though.

I saw that, too.

The whole situation breaks my heart between the death of Freddie Gray and the destruction of the city.

I wanted to share this and want to applaud this mother for taking action and keeping her son in line.

https://gma.yahoo.com/baltimore-mom-...opstories.html

A Baltimore woman took action when she saw her son hanging out with violent demonstrators Monday.

The woman, identified by ABC affiliate WMAR as the boy's mother, was watching television when she saw her son throwing rocks at police, the station reported. She went to find him in the crowd and the confrontation turned physical. The woman was caught on camera grabbing the boy and smacking him in the face.
"Are you kidding me?" she's heard saying. The station did not identify her by name.

This must stop on both sides!

Everyone can lay blame somewhere, some place and on those that were there from both sides.

Laying blame on a Black Female Mayor is out of any understanding in my mind and uncalled for!

Much of my blames lays in the thugs that come in and cause the main problems and the Black Preachers that stir up even more with their rhetoric.

Is there raicism in the United Statds, sad to say yes, but look to Europe and there is the same there.

The same could be said about many other areas of life. Gay, Lesbien, Transgender or Relegioin! Now what else??

Where's my popcorn and chair?

I think most of the protesters seem to use the protesting to steal and tear up stuff. And to tear up your own community? For realz? Makes no sense! Smh.

Not "most." "Some." There were over 10,000 people who were protesting peacefully all week before the cacophony began and it was not "most" of the same 10,000 who did destruction. I will leave the rest alone for right now.

Today's arrests are first steps....still a long way to go, but all we've ever asked is for our intelligence to not be insulted.

#policebodycamerasnow.

What do you mean by that statement? Who's insulting your intelligence? I've got mixed feelings about the charges. I'm happy to see the justice system working because there is a lot of weird shit going on with this, specifically, How did he break his back? As a law enforcement officer I'm not really happy how they charged all the officers on scene with manslaughter for not buckling Gray's seatbelt. Negligence sure, but manslaughter? Part of me thinks that they are just throwing everything that they can at the wall just to see what will stick. The family's attorney being a former mentor of the prosecutor is another issue I have. They also should try for a change in venue for the trial. Other than that, I hope the truth will finally come out and those really responsible are fairly tried.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with regard to police body cameras. I'd like to be a fly on the walls of the room where this option is discussed. There are definitely a lot of good reasons to get them, but there are also a lot of good reasons not to.

Some of the things I question... Where will all the recorded data be stored, and who will be charged with its security? How will everyone be assured of their privacy?

Should be a good conversation (assuming everyone comes to the table ready to consider all options).

The cameras alone aren't the major cost, it's storing the data that will really cost a lot of money. Money that most municipalities don't have. Cities like NYC and Miami may be able to find the funding but for everybody else...It's going to have to be funded by the Feds, plain and simple. I'm betting that a lot of third party data storage companies will be the ones contracted out to handle the archives and for security, I'm sure there will be hacks but that's life.

The argument for body cameras seems to center around the notion that it's going to catch a lot of bad cops and the public will be safer. While that may be true to some extent, the public will make up the majority of cases of wrongdoing caught on camera. You have to give up some civil liberty to really implement body cameras nationwide. The question is, is it really worth it to you?

ETA- police body cams can also possibly create a 4th amendment nightmare.

I can't speak for Tony but I feel my intelligence has been insulted numerous times in the past few days. The media has been incredibly selective in what has been portrayed in an attempt to skew things a particular way and it's ridiculous what people are expected to believe without question. The notion that all the protesters are running around causing damage (10,000+ people were protesting peacefully for a week before that), the arrest was his own fault for possessing a knife (he was legally carrying and it has now been deemed an illegal detainment), he broke his own back by struggling (WTF?), his spine was already injured by surgery and there's proof (both the rumor and the "proof" were bogus), etc. The list of far-fetched sensational tales we are supposed to accept in lieu of actual investigation and fair trial is ridiculous. Too bad there are so many who did accept it cluttering up my social media feeds but I notice they are all pretty quiet now.

You say this as if it's a new phenomenon but it's interesting you point out how the media appears (in your eyes) to have been unfairly treating the victim and his supporters. Many people made the same claims in regards to the Furgeson incident on how Ofc Wilson was instantly demonized by most of the media. How would the national discourse on the issue have been different if the later proven false claims of him shooting Brown in the back or if "hands up don't shoot" wasn't reported to have happened? I've always been one to reserve judgement on these murky cases until the real evidence starts rolling out, not the widely reported, rumors. Either way, the media has been doing this longer than you've been alive so expect your intelligence to get insulted many more times in the future ;)

1. At what point did I imply any of this was new? Sensationalism and omission of fact is just as insulting today as it was yesterday and it will still be so tomorrow.

2. I'm aware that he was demonized in many circles. In many others, Michael Brown was also demonized and dehumanized. As I'm sure you know, it's all source-dependent which is yet another problem.

3. It would have been a lot more fair if the false claims from both sides had never been reported.

4. That's great. So do I. I wish more people did.

Stealthmode's recent posts accurately captured my sentiments. Leaks suggesting Grey was "intentionally trying to injure himself" to the point of breaking his own neck. No.

...the ingenuity it takes to come up with these "explanations" is almost impressive.

Baltimore is still under a police state.....err, I mean curfew.

Very glad to see much diversity in the crowds in the pictures on this:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/BaltimoreUprising?src=hash

Some of the Twitter-atti are labeling this movement Black Spring.

So, do you think more protests will be spreading even further across the nation?