Baltimore lifts overnight curfew as normalcy returns

The city of Baltimore lifted an overnight curfew introduced in the wake of riots last week as calls grew for the US to do more to address the urban deprivation many have blamed for fuelling the unrest.

Protesters held celebratory marches in Baltimore over the weekend following the filing of charges on Friday against six police officers over the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who died after what prosecutors now call his false arrest.

But as normalcy slowly returned in the city on Sunday there were clear signs that what had begun as a conversation over police brutality had evolved into one about the broader social problems confronting American cities and their residents. And that it was one likely to prompt plenty of partisan sniping in the days ahead.

Elijah Cummings, a longtime Democratic congressman from Baltimore, called for a national "inclusion revolution" to address the poverty confronting many black urban communities. "We have got to invest in our cities and our children," he told ABC television, adding that everyone from the president to state politicians as well as the business communities and philanthropies would need to get involved.

Martin O'Malley, a former mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland who is mounting a long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, said the Baltimore riots should serve as a "wake up call for the entire country".

"We haven't had an agenda for America's cities for at least two decades," he told ABC. The result of that and what he called structural problems with the US economy had left many black Americans feeling like "disposable citizens".

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In an interview with NBC, John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, echoed that view in part, acknowledging that the events in Baltimore and cities like Ferguson, Missouri, and New York over the past year were evidence of a breakdown of relations between black urban communities and police.

"If you look at what has happened over the past year you just have to scratch your head," he said.

But he blamed many of the social policies pushed by the Democratic party in recent decades for the woes afflicting American cities and said what were really needed were more efforts to encourage private investment.

"What we have here is 50 years of liberal policies that have not worked to help the very people that we want to help," he said.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the lifting of the curfew on Sunday following calls from businesses worried about prolonging the economic impact of the worst civil unrest seen in the city since 1968. In a statement she said: "My goal has always been to not have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary. I believe we have reached that point today."

But the mayor also told NBC that authorities were still working to identify looters and others involved in last week's riots that saw several businesses attacked.

"We have a lot of evidence that we will be going through," she said.

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