MD Governor Hogan calls in National Guard

Just saw that.

I'm disappointed but not surprised. I just hope this won't intensify more than it has. I'm quite concerned about escalation as Baltimore and Wash DC could be a tinderbox.

I hope the NG has orders to shoot.

I don't think anything will happen in DC, these riots are due to the death of a young Baltimore man, whose funeral was held today. His parents asked for calm, but we have had outside agitators organizing via Social Media, and the groups have been moving as businesses are broken into and looted. The CVS that serves that area was one of the first stores to to be looted then set on fire. A local mall was closed, but suddenly cars were pulling into the parking lot, people ran from their cars into the Mall and exited with huge amounts of goods. I don't think they realized that all the stores have many security cameras and the license plates of cars were captured on film.

Initially, the blame was placed on highschool students, but the students have uniforms, including khaki pants, I haven't seen any khaki pants. Local newscasters who broadcast at TV hill mentioned they didn't see students trying to get to the station. A curfew has been established and will start at 10 PM until
5 AM.

Dont think anything will happen in DC???? WOW is that naive.

It's a lose/lose situation. If they protest quietly the media quickly forgets them. If people riot, the peaceful majority is ignored in favor of riot videos. In each instance, nothing changes.

Why??? Do you own a CVS in Baltimore?

No, I dont. But I believe in being able to protect yourself if you are tasked with restoring order when riotous mayhem ensues. And when organized thugs who seek to place others lives in jeopardy as in the case of the police officer who is still unresponsive, or who commits arson, that force should be met with an equal of greater force, ie deadly force. Sending in the NG with no ammo or police who cannot respond only fuels more violence as witnessed last night. It's a green light to the scum to escalate their animalistic behavior. For if they knew that they could be shot for committing arson or for stoning a cop they would take pause before thay did...or at least they would only do it once.

It's very sad, a woman was interviewed this morning. She worked at the burned out CVS for the last 5 years and now she has no job. Some businesses that were looted and burned were located near peoples homes. Some people became homeless because of the fires.

Earlier today, Batimore residents came to the stricken areas and cleaned up as much of the debris as they could. They were all unpaid volunteers who lived in the area. Tonight's curfew starts at 9 for kids up to age of 14, and 10 for everybody else. It's been bad, but so far a pale imitation of Martial Law declared back in 1968.

Great idea, nothing quells violence quite like opening fire at large crowds, and killing people. You must think we are living in Syria. Where do you live, Montana?

Spoken like a true bleeding heart liberal.



Yeah...look what sitting idlly by did for those in Baltimore and Ferguson.

Why not eliminate the police altogether and every month we allow the animals to run lawlessly rampant to slake their base urges? Once a month enough ya think??? But then who would enforce it on the non- purge days??? Oh well, I guess we all could get used to getting fucked every day, huh?

Hell, you'd even object to water canons and that aint lethal. But Im confident you'd find something wrong with it.

I sometimes think you liberals love when this **** happens so you can wring your hands and cry, "Woe is us" in an effort to be "relevant".

Mother Jones:
After Baltimore police and a crowd of teens clashed near the Mondawmin Mall in northwest Baltimore on Monday afternoon, news reports described the violence as a riot triggered by kids who had been itching for a fight all day. But in interviews with Mother Jones and other media outlets, teachers and parents maintain that police actions inflamed a tense-but-stable situation.



The funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody this month, had ended hours earlier at a nearby church. According to the Baltimore Sun, a call to "purge"—a reference to the 2013 dystopian film in which all crime is made legal for one night—circulated on social media among school-aged Baltimoreans that morning. The rumored plan—which was not traced to any specific person or group—was to assemble at the Mondawmin Mall at 3:00 p.m. and proceed down Pennsylvania Avenue toward downtown Baltimore. The Baltimore police department, which was aware of the "purge" call, prepared for the worst. Shortly before noon, the department issued a statement saying it had "received credible information that members of various gangs…have entered into a partnership to 'take-out' law enforcement officers."

When school let out that afternoon, police were in the area equipped with full riot gear. According to eyewitnesses in the Mondawmin neighborhood, the police were stopping busses and forcing riders, including many students who were trying to get home, to disembark. Cops shut down the local subway stop. They also blockaded roads near the Mondawmin Mall and Frederick Douglass High School, which is across the street from the mall, and essentially corralled young people in the area. That is, they did not allow the after-school crowd to disperse.

Meghann Harris, a teacher at a nearby school, described on Facebook what happened:


Police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers. Then, [Frederick Douglass High School] students, in huge herds, were trying to leave on various busses but couldn't catch any because they were all shut down. No kids were yet around except about 20, who looked like they were waiting for police to do something. The cops, on the other hand, were in full riot gear, marching toward any small social clique of students…It looked as if there were hundreds of cops.

The kids were "standing around in groups of 3-4," Harris said in a Facebook message to Mother Jones. "They weren't doing anything. No rock throwing, nothing…The cops started marching toward groups of kids who were just milling about."

A teacher at Douglass High School, who asked not to be identified, tells a similar story: "When school was winding down, many students were leaving early with their parents or of their own accord." Those who didn't depart early, she says, were stranded. Many of the students still at school at that point, she notes, wanted to get out of the area and avoid any Purge-like violence. Some were requesting rides home from teachers. But by now, it was difficult to leave the neighborhood. "I rode with another teacher home," this teacher recalls, "and we had to route our travel around the police in riot gear blocking the road… The majority of my students thought what was going to happen was stupid or were frightened at the idea. Very few seemed to want to participate in 'the purge.'"

A parent who picked up his children from a nearby elementary school, says via Twitter, "The kids stood across from the police and looked like they were asking them 'why can't we get on the buses' but the police were just gazing…Majority of those kids aren't from around that neighborhood. They NEED those buses and trains in order to get home." He continued: "If they would've let them children go home, yesterday wouldn't have even turned out like that."

Meg Gibson, another Baltimore teacher, described a similar scene to Gawker: "The riot police were already at the bus stop on the other side of the mall, turning buses that transport the students away, not allowing students to board. They were waiting for the kids.…Those kids were set up, they were treated like criminals before the first brick was thrown." With police unloading busses, and with the nearby metro station shut down, there were few ways for students to clear out.

Several eyewitnesses in the area that afternoon say that police seemed to arrive at Mondawmin anticipating mobs and violence—prior to any looting. At 3:01 p.m., the Baltimore Police Department posted on its Facebook page: "There is a group of juveniles in the area of Mondawmin Mall. Expect traffic delays in the area." But many of the kids, according to eyewitnesses, were stuck there because of police actions.

The Baltimore Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Around 3:30, the police reported that juveniles had begun to throw bottles and bricks. Fifteen minutes later, the police department noted that one of its officers had been injured. After that the violence escalated, and rioters started looting the Mondawmin Mall, and Baltimore was in for a long night of trouble and violence. But as the event is reviewed and investigated, an important question warrants attention: What might have happened had the police not prevented students from leaving the area? Did the department's own actions increase the chances of conflict?

As Meghann Harris put it, "if I were a Douglas student that just got trapped in the middle of a minefield BY cops without any way to get home and completely in harm's way, I'd be ready to pop off, too."

By dressing in riot gear on threat of civil disobediance...a clear and overt act of aggression if ever I heard of one. Just think of it...police who when they think there might be a riot they don riot gear! It's unheard of I tells ya!



Yeah, dressing for a riot signifies that the police think the students might be rioters. So....
Makes perfect sense. These poor misguided youth had no choice but to assume the role of rioters!!! Cant you see, it's the cops who are to blame.

source

I hope there is an investigation into why the police were refusing to let the schoolchildren leave the area by bus. I heard several interviews with teachers last night who were taking as many kids out as they could - everyone wondering why the police were deliberately stranding the kids in the area.

Freddie Gray's death ruled a homicide; 6 Baltimore officers charged

Does the State of Maryland or the Federal Government have to pay for the cost of the troops?