BALTIMORE: Drop-In Center For Homeless LGBT Youth Damaged In Rioting

A burning object was hurled through the front window of Baltimore's drop-in center for homeless LGBT youth on the first night of the rioting. Via the Baltimore Sun:

Lara Law seemed more sad than angry on Tuesday morning as she assessed the fire damage to the Baltimore youth center where she and others provide services to young homeless people frustrated with a lack of opportunities in the city’s many impoverished neighborhoods. If it was a similarly-frustrated city youth who torched the center amid the riots in Baltimore, Law said, "the anger is legitimate and understandable" -- even if the actions were not. “I don’t condone the violence and the destruction, the tearing down of what we need in our community, but the young people out on the streets are some of the same young people we’re serving – filled with trauma and violence and a lack of opportunity their whole lives,” Law said.

“It’s understandable. We have to fix our way of doing things so they feel included and that there are opportunities for them.” By Tuesday afternoon, Law and her staff were in a temporary work space in a nearby café doing the same work they've always done for the program’s 14- to 25-year-old participants – some of whom Law fears may have been caught on the streets in the violence Monday night for no fault of their own. “We’re anxious to talk to them and find out how they were affected last night and how they continue to be affected,” said Law, director of the Youth Empowered Society Drop-in Center on North Charles Street.

YES Youth is soliciting donations on their Facebook page while repairs are being made from the fire. They also have an Amazon wish-list for the non-perishable snack items that they hand out to the homeless kids. (Tipped by JMG reader Nate)

BREAKING: Maryland DA Charges Six Cops In Custody Death Of Freddie Gray

Charges include second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault, and police misconduct.

Hillary Calls For Police Body Cameras

Baltimore To See Pro Baseball First

It's believed that this is a first for major league baseball:

"After consultation with Major League Baseball and city and local officials, tomorrow's game between the Orioles and Chicago White Sox will be closed to the public," the team said in a statement. "The Orioles will also play their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, scheduled for May 1-3, at Tropicana Field in Florida, while serving as the home team." The announcement came one day after Orioles executive John Angelos, the son of team owner Peter Angelos, responded to criticism of the protestors with a lengthy statement that pointed towards "a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere…living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state."

Hillary Reacts To Baltimore Riots

BALTIMORE: Governor Declares State Of Emergency, Calls Out National Guard

Via ABC News:

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency today following a violent gathering in Baltimore, where people threw objects at police, set cars on fire and looted businesses. Hogan also activated the National Guard. The standoff began near the Mondawmin Mall in the northwest part of the city, the Baltimore Police Department said, as the group threw bricks, rocks and other objects at officers. Protesters were seen climbing on a police cruiser and damaging several others. Police tweeted that people were also looting businesses and setting cars on fire. One of the looted businesses was a CVS Pharmacy, but a spokesman for CVS said the store was closed earlier in the day out of an abundance of caution so no customers or employees were there at the time. Tonight's baseball game in Baltimore between the Orioles and the White Sox has been postponed in the wake of the violence, the team said.

In the past hour CNN cameras were rolling when rioters slashed water hoses as firefighters worked to extinguish blazing businesses.

FRANCE: Thousands Of Anti-Gay Right Wingers Protest President Hollande

Torrential rains forced France's famed anti-gay Hommen into a totally not homoerotic group huddle during yesterday's protest against President Francois Hollande. As is typical for France's neo-Nazi supported anti-gay movement, things got violent.

Several thousand people marched through Paris on Sunday in a "Day of Anger" against embattled President Francois Hollande which ended in clashes between police and protesters. Security forces used tear gas to disperse several hundred youths who lobbed police with bottles, fireworks, iron bars and dustbins. Police on Monday said at least 250 people had been arrested after the clashes, during which 12 officers were injured. Interior Minister Manuel Valls condemned the violence "by individuals, varied groups from the extreme and ultra-right, whose only goal is to create unrest". The march organised by a motley group of some 50 small and mainly right-wing organisations, however failed to attract bigger anti-Hollande movements. Organisers claimed a turnout of some 120,000 people, however police estimated there were 17,000 people at the protest, held under pouring rain. The demonstrators railed against a slew of policies under Hollande - the most unpopular French president of modern times - such as last year's law allowing gay marriage.

In the video below you'll see two men performing the quenelle, which is a 21st century French version of the Nazi salute.

(Tipped by JMG reader Str8 Grandmother)

Riots Rock Ukraine

Via Al Jazeera:

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators have clashed for hours with riot police in Ukraine's capital, attacking officers with sticks, stones and flares after new laws were passed to stifle protests. The protesters, many wearing hard hats and gas masks in defiance of the new legislation, also used stun grenades and fire extinguishers on officers at Sunday's rally in Kiev. Police responded by using tear-gas and stun grenades of their own. Water cannons were also fired at the protesters in temperatures of -8C, but the clashes continued. Dozens of people were injured as a result of the clashes, including more than 30 police officers. Despite appeals from opposition leaders not to resort to violence, and a personal intervention from Vitaly Klitschko, a Ukrainian boxer turned politician, protesters continued to throw smoke bombs and hurl fireworks and other objects at police.