Baltimore police shut down community clean-up after riots
National Guard patrols the streets as State of Emergency is called following violent clashes between riot police and young protesters angered by racial discrimination.
Baltimore residents took to cleaning the streets of their neighbourhoods early Tuesday morning after a chaotic night of riots that followed the funeral of Freddie Gray, a black man who died from unexplained spinal chord injuries sustained while in police custody.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake shared a public Google spreadsheet where residents could log areas that needed help and respond to these call outs.
Some 828 people said that they would attend a West Baltimore clean-up organized through Facebook.
Religious services advertised free lunches and counselling services for those affected by the violence.
Police conduct their own clean-up
However, in the early afternoon, riot police moved in to clear the streets of cleanup crews.
Festering division
Community solidarity is not an uncommon response to riots carried out by a minority, regardless of the reasons for that violence. What is harder to heal is the wedge between authorities and marginalised communities that caused the anger in the first instance.
