Baltimore cleans up after street riots

Baltimore residents were cleaning up the wreckage from rioting and fires that erupted after the funeral of a 25-year-old black man who died after suffering a spinal injury in police custody.

Acrid smoke hung over streets where fire crews raced to contain damage from violence that broke out just blocks from the funeral of Freddie Gray and spread through much of west Baltimore.

The unrest saw looters ransack stores, pharmacies and a shopping mall and clash with police in riot gear. It was the most violent in the US since Ferguson, Missouri, was torn by gunshots and arson late last year.

Volunteers swept up charred debris and broken glass in front of a pharmacy in a poor west Baltimore neighbourhood as police officers in riot gear stood by while firemen worked to damp down the embers.

“I’m just here to help out, man. It’s the city I’m from”, said Shaun Boyd, 30, as he swept up broken glass, part of a group using donated brooms in the clean-up effort. Police said 15 officers were injured, six seriously, in Monday night’s unrest.

Gray’s death gave new energy to the public outcry over police treatment of black people that flared last year after police killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, New York City and elsewhere.

The violence appeared to catch city officials and community leaders offguard after a week of mostly peaceful protests following Gray’s death on April 19.

Maryland governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, declared a state of emergency and the National Guard was arriving in the city. A one-week curfew was also imposed in the largely black city starting last night, with exceptions for work and medical emergencies.

On Monday, youths threw rocks and bricks at police. Rioters smashed car windows outside a major hotel and twice slashed a fire hose while firemen fought a blaze at the pharmacy that had been looted before it was set on fire.

Police made at least 27 arrests and Baltimore schools were closed yesterday in the city of 620,000 people.

Gray was arrested on April 12 when running from officers. He was transported to the police station in a van, with no seat restraint and suffered the spinal injury that led to his death a week later. A lawyer for Gray’s family says his spine was 80% severed at the neck while in custody.

Six officers have been suspended, and the US Justice Department is investigating possible civil rights violations.