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Baltimore Ends Curfew As National Guard Prepares to Leave

After five days of ordering residents to remain indoors between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ended the city’s curfew on Sunday morning. “I have rescinded my order instituting a city-wide curfew. I want to thank the people of Baltimore for their patience,” she said. “My goal has always been to not have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary. I believe we have reached that point today.” Many Baltimoreans had complained that the curfew, which was instituted after protests over Freddie Gray’s death turned violent, was being more strictly enforced in black neighborhoods than in whiter areas. Workers and businesses also lost income as a result of reduced operating hours.

Meanwhile, RT published an upsetting video of a cop pepper-spraying a protester in the face as the curfew went into effect on Saturday night. Aside from walking slowly toward a group of officers, the man didn’t appear to do anything to provoke the attack, though he was wearing a “Fuck the Police” T-shirt:

Reuters reports that “at least a dozen people on Saturday [violated] the curfew.

Also on Sunday, Maryland governor Larry Hogan announced plans for the departure of the 3,000 National Guard troops (and 1,000 extra police officers) who arrived in Baltimore last week. “It’s been a very hard week, but we’ve kept everybody safe. Since Monday night, we haven’t had any serious problems,” he said, explaining that it would take around three days for all of the out-of-town law enforcement to leave. “It’s going to take a little while for us to get totally back to normal,” he added

These developments come just days after Baltimore City state attorney Marilyn Mosby announced that she would prosecute the six officers involved in Gray’s death. Those officers — Caesar Goodson Jr., Brian Rice, Garrett Miller, Edward Nero, William Porter, and Alicia White — are facing an array of charges, including second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault, and misconduct. They had all posted bail by Friday night.

Baltimore Loses Curfew and National Guard