Some Crowds Clash With Police As Curfew Goes Into Effect
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A citywide curfew goes into effect, but police were still struggling to get people to leave the streets.
Crowds clashed with police at an intersection in West Baltimore.
Christie Ileto was at Pennsylvania and North avenues, where some refused to leave.
A large group of about 100 protestors was standing at that intersection, almost facing off with police.
At one point, residents hurled water bottles and large objects at officers. In return, officers threw smoke bombs at the crowds.
The demonstrations continue, but the emphasis is clear:
"No violence. That's it. That's what I'm out here for. No violence at all," said one protestor.
Protestors packed the promenade of City Hall. Others were peacefully marching down Pennsylvania Avenue.
"Because violence and destruction causes distractions. We don't want to distract the world from the fact that six officers know what happened to Freddie Gray," one protestor said.
Gray was critically injured while in police custody before dying a week after his arrest, but it wasn't until his burial that violence and riots swept the city.
"The only difference between yesterday—as you can see, they're letting us do what we do. We're peacefully protesting," said Dorian Vaughn.
Vaughn watched teens hurl rocks at police at Mondawmin Mall before rioters trashed local stores and pockets of the city burned to its knees.
North and Pennsylvania avenues bore the brunt.
"They were trying to make a point to the police, which impacted mostly us because that was our neighborhood they trashed; they destroyed, not even trashed," one protestor said.
"It's just a completely different energy, I think. We watched things unfold yesterday, and we said that we can't let that happen," said another.
The intersection once illuminated with police lights is now a place of peaceful protests.
