A night of riots and fires on the streets of Baltimore came hours after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a man who died of spinal cord injury while in police custody. Buildings and cars were engulfed in flames as businesses were looted. At least 15 police officers were injured, six seriously.

Gray’s family reacted negatively to the violence. “I want y’all to get justice for my son, but don’t do it like this here,” the man’s mother told journalists while his twin sister, Fredericka, said she couldn’t understand the violence that she did not believe was in her brother’s name.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency in an effort to ‘gain control of the situation”. There was a mandatory curfew imposed.

As a result of the damage caused by the riots, students could not go to school.