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 The riots broke out blocks from where the funeral of Freddie Gray
took place and spread through much of west Baltimore.
It was the most violent protest against police treatment of African
Americans since arson and gunfire in Ferguson, Missouri, last year.
A state of emergency was declared by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan,
a Republican, who sent in the National Guard, and a curfew was
imposed in the majority black city from Tuesday night, with
exceptions for work and medical emergencies.
Firefighters battled numerous blazes through Monday night, including
one that consumed a church's senior center under construction in
East Baltimore. Police said looting, fires and attacks against
officers continued overnight.
Looters sacked liquor stores, pharmacies, a shopping mall and a
check-cashing store. Rioters smashed car windows outside a major
hotel and twice slashed a fire hose while firefighters fought a
blaze at a CVS pharmacy that had been looted before it was set on
fire.
"All this had to happen, people getting tired of the police killing
the young black guys for no reason. ... It is a sad day but it had
to happen," said Tony Luster, 40, who was out on the street watching
the police line.
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 percent severed at
the neck while in custody.
Six officers have been suspended, and the U.S. Justice Department is
investigating the incident for possible civil rights violations.
Gray's death reignited a public outcry over police treatment of
African Americans that flared last year after police killings of
unarmed black men in Ferguson, New York City and elsewhere.
But after several days of peaceful protests, events turned violent
on Monday. Democratic Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called the
looters "thugs" and said they had nothing to do with protests.
Police made at least 27 arrests and Baltimore schools will be shut
Tuesday. An Orioles baseball game was canceled and businesses and
train stations shut down in the city of 620,000 people 40 miles (64
km) from the nation's capital.
BALTIMORE A TROUBLED CITY
Much of the rioting occurred in a neighborhood where more than a
third of families live in poverty. The violence appeared to catch
city officials somewhat off-guard after a week of peaceful protests.
After Missouri was criticized for a heavy-handed response to
protests over the police killing of unarmed black teenager Michael
Brown in August, cities have carefully tread a line between allowing
peaceful demonstrations over police brutality and preventing
violence.
 Answering criticism of not responding quickly enough to Monday's
events, Mayor Rawlings-Blake told CNN: "This was an incident that
sparked this afternoon ... I think it would have been inappropriate
to bring in the National Guard when we had it under control."
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Gray's family pleaded for peaceful demonstrations and after the
looting started, pastors and community leaders took to the streets
to try to prevent violent clashes between black youth and police.
Looters were nonchalant and showed their faces.
"We went in there and tore it up," said a 16-year-old who said he
was one of the looters inside the CVS.
Just down the street from the smoldering CVS, business owner Daisy
Bush, 61, said: "The sad part about it is that a lot of people from
the community were up there in the CVS, stealing stuff out of it.
It's a disgrace."
Earlier in the day youths threw rocks and bricks at police. Six
officers were injured seriously, Baltimore Police Commissioner
Anthony Batts told reporters.
"This is not protesting. This is not your first amendment rights.
This is just criminal acts doing damage to a community," he said.
Baltimore has long struggled with high crime and gangs, a reputation
that has made it the setting for gritty television police dramas
such as "The Wire."
At Gray's funeral, speaker after speaker before the crowd packing
the 2,500-seat New Shiloh Baptist Church said the world was watching
to see if justice would be done for Gray.
A string of deadly confrontations between mostly white police and
black men, and the violence it has prompted, will be among the
challenges facing U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was sworn
in on Monday.
Lynch condemned the "senseless acts of violence" and signaled that
improving relations between the police and the communities they
protect will be high on her agenda.
Riots over race issues and police brutality have gripped U.S. cities
in the past.
In the 1992 Los Angeles riots, more than 50 people were killed in
violence set off by the acquittal of four police officers who beat
black motorist Rodney King. In 1968, dozens died in riots, including
several in Baltimore, after the assassination of civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr.
(Additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, Dan Whitcomb in Los
Angeles and Richard Cowan in Washington; Writing by Fiona Ortiz and
Curtis Skinner; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Michael Perry and Jeremy
Gaunt)
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