Baltimore Reels After Freddie Gray Protests Descend Into Chaos

 

Baltimore woke up to ashes and broken glass on Tuesday morning following violent clashes and looting which left Freddie Gray's community in tatters.

Tensions simmering since Gray's death in police custody on April 19 boiled over on Monday night. Maryland called in the national guard and declared a state of emergency after riots, arson and looting erupted following Gray's funeral. Police said at least 15 officers were injured and more than two dozen people were arrested.

On Tuesday morning, students were staying home after Baltimore City Schools announced there would be no classes. Maryland state offices in Baltimore city were closed.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake said starting Tuesday, there would be a weeklong curfew imposed from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. — in addition to the juvenile curfew Baltimore regularly has.

In the light of day, business owners will take stock of what was lost.

"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," Rawlings-Blake, a lifelong Baltimore resident, said Monday night. "It is idiotic to think that by destroying your city you're going to make life better for anybody."

Gray's family said it was "appalled" by the violence and urged calm.

"I think the violence is wrong," Grays twin sister, Fredericka Gray, said late Monday. "I don't like it at all."

— William J. Gorta and Halimah Abdullah

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tensions-simmer-baltimore-seeks-rise-ashes-n349416