Emergency declared in Baltimore as protests turn into riots

According to international media, the city of Baltimore in the US has declared a state of emergency amid violent protests linked to the death of a black man who was fatally injured while he was in police custody. A week-long curfew has been announced and as many as 5,000 National Guard troops could be deployed.

According to reports, dozens of people were seen confronting police earlier, and 15 officers were injured in the confrontation, and later, a community building that was under construction was engulfed in flames.

The clashes began hours after 25-year old Freddie Gray's funeral. Gray, an African American, lost his life on April 19th after spending a week in a coma. While the justice department is investigating exactly where and when his spinal injuries were sustained, officials have suspended six police officers who were involved in the case.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said it was very clear there was a difference between the "peaceful protests of those who seek justice" and the "thugs who want to incite violence". She added that authorities were "deploying every resource possible to regain control of the situation".

Following the violence, looting and fires in various spots across the city was reported and she said that the destruction was “heart-breaking.”

Freddie Gray's death is the latest in a string of high-profile cases where black men have died after contact with the police. Notably, the killing of the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last year, had been met by nationwide protests.

Baltimore officials likened Monday's violence to scenes witnessed after the 1968 assassination of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King and said the city had taken a long time to recover from it.

The police released a statement earlier in the day and said that its Criminal Intelligence Unit had learned "that members of various gangs including the Black Guerrilla Family, Bloods, and Crips had entered into a partnership" to target officers.

The BBC reports that the violence is an escalation of earlier protests which were followed by 34 arrests as peaceful demonstrations by about 1,200 people outside City Hall on Saturday afternoon got out of control.