Baltimore calmer night after imposed curfew

The curfew imposed in Baltimore, Md., was broken by a few protesters Tuesday night, but the city had a calmer night.

Law enforcement officials used flash bangs and pepper pellets to disperse protesters who broke the curfew effect. At least one officer was injured in South Baltimore by a rock-and-brick throwing crowd, reports UPI.

Although tensions were high, the city did not experience the same high level of widespread riots and looting seen on Monday.

It's unclear how many protesters remained after curfew. A helicopter equipped with a loudspeaker reminded everyone of the curfew and asked them to go home.

Hundreds of officers created walls with shields to slowly push the remaining protesters from where they were gathered. Some plastic and glass bottles were thrown at police and at least one of the smoke bombs was thrown back toward officers.

As police worked to disperse crowds, a fire was started outside Pratt Library.

Earlier in the evening, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the relative peace experienced Tuesday could be the city's "defining moment," not the violent night before.

"Last night was a very rough period for our city but today I think we saw a lot more of what Baltimore is about," she said Tuesday evening in a news conference with fellow city leaders. "People coming together to reclaim our city, clean our city and help heal our city."

Rawlings-Blake said she spent the morning speaking with business owners and residents whose lives would be damaged by the previous night's riots for a long time.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts called Tuesday "a very good day" with people dancing and celebrating near the epicenter of Monday's riots. He said there were one or two arrests of people "acting up."

He said it's clear there needs to be a change in culture within the Baltimore Police Department.

"We have a lot of things we need to change, and we're willing to go in that direction," he said.

As of Tuesday evening, some 1,700 members of the Maryland National Guard were on the streets in Baltimore.

In the hours before a citywide curfew was set to take effect things remained largely peaceful. Members of the community gathered in the streets to protest the death of Freddie Gray, some marching, some attending a town hall meeting at Empowerment Temple, some even putting on dance performances.

The curfew, announced Monday, is expected to last at least through Friday, when Batts said the police department would submit a report on the investigation into Gray's death to prosecutors.

Earlier Tuesday, President Barack Obama condemned the violence in Baltimore, saying there is "no excuse" for the arson, looting and destruction in the aftermath of Gray's April 19 death after an injury suffered while in police custody.

Describing the violence as counterproductive, Obama said, "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're burning down a building, they're committing arson. And they're destroying and undermining business and opportunities in their own communities."

In his first public comments since the violence in Baltimore began, Obama said it is "entirely appropriate" that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Rawlings-Blake work to stop the violence and destruction.

"That is not a protest. That is not a statement," he said. ''That is a handful of people taking advantage of the situation for their own purpose, and they need to be treated as criminals."

The president's comments come as volunteers and workers took to the streets Tuesday to begin the lengthy cleanup. About 235 arrests were made, and 20 police officers were injured, six seriously, when gangs of mostly young men became violent after the funeral for Gray.

Federal arson investigators have joined local fire marshals to investigate the 144 vehicle fires and 15 structure fires that began as a result of the unrest.

Kowalczyk said one person was critically injured as a result of one of the structure fires.

Early on, businesses and schools learned about the impending violence and began shutting down. Officials at the University of Maryland in Baltimore abruptly canceled classes "on recommendation of the BPD."

T. Rowe Price and other employers in the area sent workers home early and remain closed.

As the violence grew, calls for calm came from across the city, including from the rival gangs Crips and Bloods. Crips gang member Charles Shelley, standing arm in arm with a Bloods member named Jamal, said, "We're here to protect our community. We don't want trouble."

Obama said the problems in Baltimore are not new and the country needs to do some soul-searching.

"If we really want to solve the problem, we could. It would require everybody to say this is important, this is significant and that we just don't pay attention to these communities when a CVS burns, when a young man is shot or when his spine is snapped," he said.

On her first day on the job Monday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that in the coming days, Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and Ronald Davis, director of the DOJ's Community Oriented Policing Services, will go to Baltimore to meet with faith and community leaders, as well as city officials. A peace walk through the damaged areas was planned for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday beginning at the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church.