6:30 a.m.
A city-wide curfew in Baltimore ended at 5 a.m. and the morning rush is getting underway with traffic flowing on most streets downtown. There are still a few road and lane closures around police headquarters and around Pennsylvania and North avenues, where demonstrators have been congregating and a hotspot for rioting Monday night.
Local television showed a large police presence at that intersection and the CVS pharmacy in that neighborhood that burned in Monday’s riots being boarded up on Wednesday morning.
Also, schools are set to reopen Wednesday morning after they were closed in the wake of Monday’s riots. In a letter to the city school community on Tuesday, schools CEO Gregory Thornton thanked the students who avoided violence and law-breaking on Monday. But he also condemned students who participated in the riots, saying they will be held accountable.
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12:40 a.m.
For the people arrested in Baltimore under the state of emergency, there could be a longer wait than usual to see a District Court official.
Normally, state law requires that people arrested without warrants appear before a court official within 24 hours of their arrests.
But as part of the state of emergency declared Monday by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan following unrest in the city, the governor extended the period to no later than 47 hours. That’s according to a letter he sent Tuesday to Judge Barbara Baer Waxman, the administrative judge for the Baltimore District Court.
“This exercise of my authority is necessary to protect the public safety and to address the more than 200 arrests that were made by Baltimore Police Department and other law enforcement officials,” Hogan wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
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12:12 a.m.
At midnight Tuesday, Baltimore police arrested one man wearing a Wu-Tang Clan T-shirt for violating the 10 p.m. curfew near the scene of Tuesday night’s demonstration.
Police placed him in plastic handcuffs and arrested him without incident.
The man, who declined to give his name, said while he was being arrested that he was out at that hour because he had car problems. He said no animosity toward the officers.
“They’re doing their job,” he said.
Officers placed him in a prisoner transport van and told him they were taking him about 2 miles to Central Booking.
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11:40 p.m. Tuesday
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts says a citywide curfew seems to be working.
Batts told a news conference shortly before midnight Tuesday that only 10 people had been arrested following the 10 p.m. curfew, including seven for violating the curfew. He said two people were arrested for looting and one for disorderly conduct.
Batts said he was pleased with the efforts of dozens of community organizers, clergy and neighborhood activists who urged residents to remain calm.
“The curfew is, in fact, working,” Batts said. “Citizens are safe. The city is stable. We hope to maintain it that way.”
Officials called for the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew following riots that started hours after Freddie Gray’s funeral Monday. He died after being injured in police custody.
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(Photo Source: AP)
