Baltimore mayor lifts curfew imposed after Freddie Gray riots

Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake yesterday lifted the city’s 10pm curfew, effective immediately. The announcement came after another evening filled with arrests linked to curfew violations .

The curfew was imposed after protests spilled over into confrontations with police, looting and widespread disorder following last month's death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody.

Ms Rawlings-Blake said yesterday: “My goal has always been to not have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary. I believe we have reached that point today.”

Around 50 people were arrested on Saturday night, including several medical and legal observers. Among those arrested was Joseph Kent, a protester who had already been arrested once this week, live on television.

Ms Rawlings-Blake said: “My number one priority in instituting a curfew was to ensure the public peace, safety, health and welfare of Baltimore citizens.

“It was not an easy decision, but one I felt was necessary to help our city restore calm.”

Stay indoors

Residents were required to stay indoors between 10pm and 5am. It was put in place on Tuesday after riots in west Baltimore the previous night.

The curfew had been a source of division, as activists accused police and officials of arbitrary enforcement, which they say has targeted black communities more sharply.

On Saturday, as arrests were being made near Baltimore city’s correctional facility on Greenmount Avenue, police officers were seen reasoning with a group of protesters who had gathered in Hampden, a predominantly white neighbourhood. Around 50 mostly white protesters said they had gathered “to make a point” about the racial bias inherent in the curfew’s enforcement. No arrests were made .

On Saturday Deborah Jeon, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland , said: "At this point, it is being used to restrict the first-amendment rights of protesters, legal observers, and the media, and is engendering needless tension and hostility."

Charges

Ms Rawlings-Blake had faced criticism over the curfew, which stayed in place two days after state attorney

Marilyn Mosby

announced charges against six police officers in connection with Gray’s death.

The tenor of the protests changed as the week went on. On Saturday, a rally outside City Hall was mostly celebratory as protesters praised Ms Mosby and celebrated the first step on the road to justice.

Baltimore businesses have been affected by the curfew. In the downtown area, where two-dozen establishments had suffered some type of damage, restaurants, theatres and hotels experienced a drop in business.

Kirby Fowler, the president of the Downtown Baltimore local business association, said the number of people affected could reasonably be said to be in the thousands.

“It’s not just business owners who are being impacted,” he said. “It’s waiters and waitresses and dishwashers who depend on tips to support their families.”

The mayor was yesterday due to attend the reopening of Mondawmin Mall, the scene of Monday night’s riots. –(Guardian Service)