Obama Condemns Baltimore Violence: Calls It “Senseless” And Anti-Social

President Barack Obama has condemned the violence that erupted in Baltimore city of the United States and said there is "no excuse" for it. The city has been marred by large scale violence and attacks on public property and businesses, clashes with law enforcement agencies, looting and arson following the funeral of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old African-American who died of spinal injury in police custody.

“There’s no excuse for the kind of violence we saw yesterday. It is counterproductive. When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they’re not protesting, they’re not making a statement. They’re stealing. When they burn down a building, they are committing arson,” Obama said in a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, reports ABC News.

Soul Searching

These were Mr Obama’s first public comments ever since violence broke out in Baltimore on 27th April. The chain of violence has so far led to 200 arrests and 150 fires, according to the Baltimore mayor’s office. The authorities are now investigating the death of the young man. The U.S. president also asked police departments and local communities to do some "soul searching." In the violence, 15 police officers were injured and six hospitalised. The president noted that use of excessive force by law enforcement officers around the country is raising "troubling questions."

Meawhile, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and deployed 500 National Guardsmen. The violence followed a week of peaceful protests. The Department of Justice is investigating the death tio verify whether Baltimore police officers committed a “prosecutable civil rights violation” against Gray.

Riots Similar To 1968

A section of the city residents say that the violence in Baltimore on Monday reminded them of the riots that followed the assassination of Rev Martin Luther King Jr in 1968, reports Yahoo News. That time, for almost two weeks, rioters went on a rampage and devastated the city by burning and looting businesses. The National Guard had to be deployed throughout the city to maintain peace. The rioting killed six people, hundreds were injured and roughly 1,000 small businesses were attacked or set on fire. “We certainly understand at that time why a city like Baltimore and quite honestly the nation at large was outraged and pained,” Katrina Bell McDonald, associate professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore told Yahoo News.

Residents said Monday’s rioting started in West Baltimore and spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods. For the first time since 1968, National Guard troops were called in to assist the city police officers. In September 2014, the “Baltimore Sun” had reported that the city had to pay out roughly $5.7 million on various law suits that challenged police excesses, false arrests and false imprisonment, since 2011.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)