WASHINGTON — After a Monday night of violence, Tuesday night in Baltimore was “dramatically different,” WTOP’s Andrew Mollenbeck says.
Speaking from Baltimore with WTOP’s Mike Moss and Bruce Alan, Mollenbeck said there were “still a few moments of tension” around 10 p.m., when the citywide curfew went into effect, but that the influence of adults and community leaders calmed most problems.
Standing at what he called “Ground Zero of the protests” — the burned-out CVS where protesters and those leading a cleanup had congregated all day — Mollenbeck said he saw most people leaving before the curfew went into effect. He saw neighborhood leaders “pleading with people, ‘Please go home; please be safe.’”
Two dozen to three dozen young people, Mollenbeck said, ignored the warnings and threw bottles — mostly water bottles — and rocks at law enforcement officials. Still, it was “far less violent than what we saw on Monday.”
The difference, Mollenbeck added, was the presence of “far more adults” and community leaders on Tuesday than Monday, when, even though the presence of adults was a calming influence, they were outnumbered.
“I saw them one-on-one, talking with young people, urging them that there are ways to fight for justice that don’t involve violence.”
He added that on Tuesday groups of community leaders formed a buffer zone between police and demonstrators.
“It was faces the young people knew from their communities … and that created a sense of calm.”
Mollenbeck hoped for a calm Wednesday, saying the resumption of school would help in that regard. He added that the next large, organized demonstration is set for this weekend at City Hall. Organizers, he said, are hoping for tens of thousands of people.
