Riots in Baltimore over alleged police brutality against blacks

Rioters looted stores in Baltimore and pelted police with stones and bricks on Monday after the funeral of an African American man whose death in custody has reignited outrage over US police conduct towards blacks.

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Pallbearers carry the casket of Freddie Gray to the hearse after his funeral service at New Shiloh Baptist April 27, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switchblade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Homes housing project on Baltimore's west side. According to his attorney, Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. (Drew Angerer/AFP

Police attacked, stores ransacked in Baltimore riots

Baltimore, April 28, 2015, AFP – Rioters looted stores in Baltimore and pelted police with stones and bricks on Monday after the funeral of an African American man whose death in custody has reignited outrage over US police conduct towards blacks.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency in the port city of 620,000 that has been on a knife's edge since 25-year-old Freddie Gray died on April 19 in police custody.

Rioters prowled the city in small roving gangs, ransacking shops and trashing police vehicles. Several cars were set on fire. Looters ducked inside a shopping mall, stealing armloads of merchandise, and then drove away.

Demonstrators climb on a destroyed Baltimore Police car in the street near the corner of Pennsylvania and North avenues during violent protests following the funeral of Freddie Gray April 27, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Chip Somodevilla/AFP)

At least 15 police officers were injured by flying debris, and two of them were still hospitalised. Twenty-seven people were arrested, said Darryl De Sousa, the Baltimore Police Department's chief of patrol.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Drew Angerer/AFP

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the National Guard would be deployed "as soon as they are available" and imposed a city-wide curfew from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am beginning Tuesday, on top of a permanent nightly curfew for juveniles.

"Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs," Rawlings-Blake said as police reinforcements poured in from neighboring jurisdictions.

Thousands had converged on New Shiloh Baptist church in Baltimore's poverty-ridden Sandtown neighbourhood earlier Monday to pay final respects to Gray, who died of severe spinal injuries apparently sustained during his arrest a week earlier.

His death was the latest in a string of high-profile confrontations between African Americans and police, including the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri last year.

Gray's grieving family had explicitly asked for no protests.

"Today of all days, the family was clear this was a day of sacred closure," pastor Jamal Bryant of the city's Empowerment Temple mega-church, who delivered the eulogy, told reporters as the violence spiralled.

"So for us to come out of the burial and walk into this is absolutely inexcusable. I'm asking every young person to go back home."

Crowds swayed to hymns at the service, chanting, "Justice shall prevail, peace will prevail" in the church, where a photo of Gray – who had a record of petty drug offenses, in a grim part of Baltimore notorious for crime, poverty and joblessness – was displayed among floral wreaths.

Tensions have been on the rise in Baltimore since Gray's death, which his family's lawyers say was caused when his spine was mostly severed following his arrest.

Six officers have been suspended with pay pending the outcome of a police investigation that is to be submitted to state prosecutors by Friday.

Gray's arrest was caught on video by bystanders, and he can be heard howling in apparent pain as his limp body is dragged into the van.

Baltimore Police form a perimeter around a CVS pharmacy that was looted and burned near the corner of Pennsylvania and North avenues during violent protests following the funeral of Freddie Gray. Chip Somodevilla/AFP

Latest: The US state of Maryland has called up thousands of police officers and National Guard troops to quell riots that erupted in Baltimore on Monday after a protest against alleged police brutality.

Maryland State Police superintendent Colonel William Pallozzi said he had ordered 500 police from around the state to support city officers and had requested 5,000 more from the broader Mid-Atlantic region.

Meanwhile, National Guard commander Adjutant General Linda Singh said she had 5,000 troopers ready and would deploy them in "massive force" to protect people and property.

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