Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore Riots Didn't Start the Way You Think

[Crabtownboy]

Seems the police wanted disturbance. Maybe they thought it would take the heat off them.

Meghann Harris, a teacher at a nearby school, described on Facebook what happened:

Police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers. Then, [Frederick Douglass High School] students, in huge herds, were trying to leave on various busses but couldn't catch any because they were all shut down. No kids were yet around except about 20, who looked like they were waiting for police to do something. The cops, on the other hand, were in full riot gear, marching toward any small social clique of students…It looked as if there were hundreds of cops.

The kids were "standing around in groups of 3-4," Harris said in a Facebook message to Mother Jones. "They weren't doing anything. No rock throwing, nothing…The cops started marching toward groups of kids who were just milling about."

A teacher at Douglass High School, who asked not to be identified, tells a similar story: "When school was winding down, many students were leaving early with their parents or of their own accord." Those who didn't depart early, she says, were stranded. Many of the students still at school at that point, she notes, wanted to get out of the area and avoid any Purge-like violence. Some were requesting rides home from teachers. But by now, it was difficult to leave the neighborhood. "I rode with another teacher home," this teacher recalls, "and we had to route our travel around the police in riot gear blocking the road… The majority of my students thought what was going to happen was stupid or were frightened at the idea. Very few seemed to want to participate in 'the purge.'"

A parent who picked up his children from a nearby elementary school, says via Twitter, "The kids stood across from the police and looked like they were asking them 'why can't we get on the buses' but the police were just gazing…Majority of those kids aren't from around that neighborhood. They NEED those buses and trains in order to get home." He continued: "If they would've let them children go home, yesterday wouldn't have even turned out like that."

Meg Gibson, another Baltimore teacher, described a similar scene to Gawker: "The riot police were already at the bus stop on the other side of the mall, turning buses that transport the students away, not allowing students to board. They were waiting for the kids.…Those kids were set up, they were treated like criminals before the first brick was thrown." With police unloading busses, and with the nearby metro station shut down, there were few ways for students to clear out.

Several eyewitnesses in the area that afternoon say that police seemed to arrive at Mondawmin anticipating mobs and violence—prior to any looting. At 3:01 p.m., the Baltimore Police Department posted on its Facebook page: "There is a group of juveniles in the area of Mondawmin Mall. Expect traffic delays in the area." But many of the kids, according to eyewitnesses, were stuck there because of police actions.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/how-baltimore-riots-began-mondawmin-purge

 

[Zaac]

Seems the police wanted disturbance. Maybe they thought it would take the heat off them.

Doesn't surprise me CTB. It is consistent with privilege. It creates the problem and then complains that there is a problem.

 

[matt wade]

Why exactly caused them to riot? Was there some sort of mind control that forced them to throw bricks, burn down buildings, and attack people?

 

[Zaac]

Why exactly caused them to riot? Was there some sort of mind control that forced them to throw bricks, burn down buildings, and attack people?

Guess we'd have to be a resident of that area of Baltimore to know for sure. But considering the Freddy Gray situation and the things that they say have happened there, it does make it look like the police were trying to instigate an encounter so that it could justify it's use of brutality.

What possible reason, and I'm sure they will come up with some lame one, could the police have for making sure that the demographic who were planning to "purge" were all corralled to the same place where riot-gear ladened police officers would be waiting?

 

[matt wade]

Guess we'd have to be a resident of that area of Baltimore to know for sure. But considering the Freddy Gray situation and the things that they say have happened there, it does make it look like the police were trying to instigate an encounter so that it could justify it's use of brutality.

What possible reason, and I'm sure they will come up with some lame one, could the police have for making sure that the demographic who were planning to "purge" were all corralled to the same place where riot-gear ladened police officers would be waiting?

They were planning to purge now? I thought these were innocent kids that just got stuck there because the buses were shut down? Now you are telling me they planning to do violence? You can't have it both ways.

 

[Zaac]

They were planning to purge now? I thought these were innocent kids that just got stuck there because the buses were shut down?

According to Twitter, high schoolers, it didn't say what high schoolers, were supposed to be planning this purge. They didn't say where.

So it looks as though the police just corralled a bunch of high schoolers to where they wanted them to be.

Now you are telling me they planning to do violence? You can't have it both ways.

Can't have what both ways? Nobody denied that there were tweets about high schoolers talking about a purge. Does that mean the police manipulate to place a bunch of high schoolers in a place where they are face to face with riot-geared out police?

If the kids catch the bus in one place and you stop all the buses from coming to that place, then by golly, you're probably gonna have an accumulation of kids in that area.

 

[matt wade]

According to Twitter, high schoolers, it didn't say what high schoolers, were supposed to be planning this purge. They didn't say where.

So it looks as though the police just corralled a bunch of high schoolers to where they wanted them to be.



Can't have what both ways? Nobody denied that there were tweets about high schoolers talking about a purge. Does that mean the police manipulate to place a bunch of high schoolers in a place where they are face to face with riot-geared out police?

If the kids catch the bus in one place and you stop all the buses from coming to that place, then by golly, you're probably gonna have an accumulation of kids in that area.

So an accumulation of kids and them seeing cops in riot gear is what forced them to riot?

 

[carpro]

So an accumulation of kids and them seeing cops in riot gear is what forced them to riot?

Some people never take responsibility for their actions.

The violence was purely for the sake of violence. Not a means to an end. They couldn't care less about the dead criminal.

 

[matt wade]

Some people never take responsibility for their actions.

The violence was purely for the sake of violence. Not a means to an end. They couldn't care less about the dead criminal.

Agreed. And our resident apologist Zaac is trying to justify the actions of the thugs that rioted with moronic reasoning.

These thugs rioted because they are pieces of garbage that wanted to commit acts of violence and get their jollies from it.

 

[Crabtownboy]

I would like to know why the police stopped buses filled with kids going home and made those kids get off the bus and then would not allow them to get back on the buses and go home?

 

[matt wade]

I would like to know why the police stopped buses filled with kids going home and made those kids get off the bus and then would not allow them to get back on the buses and go home?

Who says it is even true? A report from a teacher "from a nearby school"? How does she know if she was at a nearby school? Her report doesn't make any sense either:

"Police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers. Then, [Frederick Douglass High School] students, in huge herds, were trying to leave on various busses but couldn't catch any because they were all shut down. No kids were yet around except about 20, who looked like they were waiting for police to do something. The cops, on the other hand, were in full riot gear, marching toward any small social clique of students…It looked as if there were hundreds of cops."

In the 1st sentence we have buses unloading all their passengers. In the 2nd sentence we have "huge herds" of students. By the 3rd sentence we are down to "about 20" kids.

 

[Don]

Would someone answer why the cops were there in riot gear?

(I believe I already know; just want to see what CTB and others might say)

 

[Don]

No one wants to answer that one?

Okay, allow me to answer my own question: Cops show up to a place wearing riot control gear because they were notified that a protest was going to occur. Unfortunately, based on experience, a lot of protests tend to have some people in them who choose to act rowdy; thus, personal protective gear for the policemen is standard.

And yes, riot control gear looks "militarized" to the untrained eye, because most people who have never actually had dealings with the military have no clue what they're talking about.

SO - perfectly legitimate reason why police were there in riot control gear.

I myself sat on a bus with 30-something other guys back in the late 80's, because we were notified there was going to be a protest outside of the base. There was a group of military guys providing basic riot-control duties; and we were standing by in case things got out of hand. A couple of people got silly; but fortunately, those of us standing by in reserve weren't needed.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Who says it is even true? A report from a teacher "from a nearby school"? How does she know if she was at a nearby school? Her report doesn't make any sense either:

"Police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers. Then, [Frederick Douglass High School] students, in huge herds, were trying to leave on various busses but couldn't catch any because they were all shut down. No kids were yet around except about 20, who looked like they were waiting for police to do something. The cops, on the other hand, were in full riot gear, marching toward any small social clique of students…It looked as if there were hundreds of cops."

In the 1st sentence we have buses unloading all their passengers. In the 2nd sentence we have "huge herds" of students. By the 3rd sentence we are down to "about 20" kids.

Actually several teachers reported this as well as bystanders. Why would you not believe them? Is it because it does not fit what you want to believe?

 

[matt wade]

Actually several teachers reported this as well as bystanders. Why would you not believe them? Is it because it does not fit what you want to believe?

So several teachers and bystanders reported that there were bus loads of people unloaded, herds of kids, and then all of a sudden there were just 20 of them?

 

[Crabtownboy]

So several teachers and bystanders reported that there were bus loads of people unloaded, herds of kids, and then all of a sudden there were just 20 of them?

So, why did the police unload the buses? Why didn't they let the kids go on to their homes?

Therefore, police deployed cops in riot gear to Mondawmin Mall to cut off the buses that the children from local schools use to take home before the children got out of school. From there, things descended into violence as frustrated children, trapped on city streets by armored police and cut off from their mode of transportation home, began hurling rocks and bricks at the police.

The police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas, turning West Baltimore into the scene of a revolt. The community, already reeling from grief following the funeral of Freddie Gray, decided they had nothing to lose. As the group of children were pushed south (see map), they were joined by the residents of Freddie Gray’s community, Sandtown-Winchester—already demonized and terrorized by police on a daily basis—in the revolt.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/the-role-the-police-played-in-sparking-the-baltimore-violence

Regardless, on Monday afternoon, police met high-school students in a heightened alert state, carrying shields and wearing armor. Students assembled at 3 p.m. near Mondawmin Mall, which The Baltimore Sun describes as a transportation hub for area students. A Facebook note written by a woman who described herself as a Baltimore teacher and shared widely Monday described an after-school scene that turned chaotic, with police stopping and unloading buses of students.

http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/9057

Some Baltimore teachers are placing a share of the blame for the violence at Mondawmin Mall yesterday on police and other local authorities, saying they contributed to the situation by stopping buses full of students on their way home from school and herding them straight into the heart of the developing unrest.

Meghann Harris, a teacher at Baltimore Design School, told Vocativ that she saw police unloading buses full of students from Frederick Douglass High School at the mall.

https://harryassenbauls.wordpress.c...erded-students-into-heart-of-developing-riot/