Photo: AFP
Curfew in Baltimore marked an end as the city began to move beyond unrest on Sunday, when Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a notice indicating that the city-wide curfew be lifted. Accordingly, the Maryland National Guards began to withdraw its forces that had been deployed and shoppers returned to the Mondawmin Mall, which had been shuttered after looting.
The Mayor and Governor Larry Hogan stated that they agreed the curfew had outlived its purpose two days before it was set to come to an end. Restaurants, small hotels, bars and the American Civil Liberties Union had called for an early end, which some residents believe that it had been unruly implemented.
Maryland National Guard and other associated units were assembling in their trucks on Central Avenue in Harbor East on Sunday afternoon, at the time of going to press.
“It’s time to get the community back to normal again,” Hogan remarked after attending the mass at St. Peter Claver Church in Western Baltimore. “It’s been a very hard week, but we’ve kept everybody safe. Since Monday night, we haven’t had any serious problems”, he further stated.
The curfew had been in place since Tuesday, after violence and looting overtook much of Western part of Baltimore amidst the anger that had sparked over the untimely death of Freddie Gray, a young Black man, resulting from injuries sustained while in police custody. The curfew required all the citizens to stay indoors between 10 pm and 5 am, with exceptions made to some.
Rawlings-Blake added that she kept the curfew in place, out of concern that Saturday protests led by out-of-town activists would turn violent. But the protests took on a mostly celebratory tone indicating clear signs of success after Friday’s announcement that six police officers would be criminally convicted in the trial.
“A lot of the unrest has been settled,” Rawlings-Blake said to the media in his statement after visiting the ‘re-opened’ Mondawmin Mall.
Tags: Baltimore curfew Curfew withdrawn USA
