Monday, April 25, 2011

Riot downtown?

At the least "large groups" of teens that got "a little wild," said the Twitterers @juliemore, @justin_fenton, @baltoSpectator, with a juvenile stabbed in the side & bus-sized paddy wagons. Also a large blackout in on the East side.
Posted by at

17 comments:

Sean said...

@juliemore - "I would also not use the word "riot" to describe them. The young people I saw were boisterous and high-spirited but not violent."

@justin_fenton - "Right - pls ppl, not a riot. RT @Juliemore Seeing lot of tweets about a "mob" downtown.Many large groups of teens were there, but not a mob."

About a dozen police cars and wagons, lights flashing, were parked along Calvert and Pratt streets. Police officers twirled espantoons and opened the wagon doors as they shooed the teens along.

The young people walked in large, boisterous groups and did not appear to be heading toward a destination. Asked why they had gathered downtown, one young person said, "It's the day after Easter."

Another explained, "It's spring break night."

Tue Apr 26, 01:03:00 AM EDT
Maurice Bradbury said...

ah, just a mass spring break constitutional!

Tue Apr 26, 09:29:00 AM EDT
buzoncrime said...

It apparently was what is called a "flash mob". Young people communicate with each other via text messages and other social media and decide to all meet downtown. Each person is asked to forward the invite to all their friends.

Philadelphia had a real problem with it last summer, and flooded the area with lots of police, and it became very tiresome very quickly. Unfortunately, if most of the crowd is not breaking any laws, there's litttle police can do, except where laws are broken.

I think it's a way for the vast majority of the young African-Americans in the city to sort of "assert their ownership" of the downtown streets. They're proclaiming that this is "their city". It's sort of a reaction to the young white urban professionals and "rich" tourists who, perhaps, they believe think the city is theirs.

Tue Apr 26, 10:24:00 AM EDT
buzoncrime said...

On a historical note of relevance: for many years, untl about a decade or so ago, hundreds of young people, on Easter Monday, would gather in Druid HIll Park, and engage in pitched battles with the police and their accompanying k9s.
Thankfully, we didn't see that last night, since times have perhaps changed for the better.

Tue Apr 26, 10:27:00 AM EDT
Cham said...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Tue Apr 26, 01:30:00 PM EDT
Cham said...

I suppose, Buzoncrime, if one is terrified and threatened by young black teens, watching black teens be boisterous and high-spirited would be a problem. It isn't for the rest of us.

Tue Apr 26, 01:37:00 PM EDT
Jack_Acid said...

@Cham I agree with you let people gather as they will, but I am not sure tossing a race card at buzoncrime is appropriate. There is zero bias in either of his posts.

Tue Apr 26, 02:08:00 PM EDT
Cham said...

I didn't toss the race card in my post at Buzoncrime, I made my post omniscient. However, now that I took the trouble to reread Buzoncrime's post I see his post is highly racist. So I rescind my non-throwing of the race card, and now consider it tossed.

Tue Apr 26, 02:24:00 PM EDT
ppatin said...

Cham:

You're full of it. Buzz has contributed far more to discussions on this blog than you have or ever will with your smarmy, race-baiting comments.

Tue Apr 26, 02:43:00 PM EDT
ppatin said...

Also...

It may not be politically correct to say this but anyone who doesn't feel at least a little uneasy around a large group of "boisterous and high-spirited" Baltimore teenagers is lacking in common sense.

Tue Apr 26, 02:44:00 PM EDT
Cham said...

If you don't like the teens peaceably assembling then you have every right to attempt to make congress make changes to the first amendment to the US Constitution. Until then, they have a right to assemble regardless of whether Buzzoncrime sees it as a big problem. Good luck with those letters to your elected representatives.

Tue Apr 26, 02:47:00 PM EDT
nobjforyou said...

"Peaceably assembling"?? I'd hardly call a stabbing, jumping on cars, and couple of brawls "peaceably assembling". The police scanner gave a different account.

Tue Apr 26, 03:30:00 PM EDT
Cham said...

I've been downtown watching the teens assembling for over a year now. A month or so ago I made note of it on this comment section. The kids have been roaming around, dancing and chatting with each other. They don't pose a problem, they seem to be having a good time and not bothering anyone. I did figure it was just a matter of time before the Baltimore City Police Department would make an effort to disburse them because our police department doesn't want anyone but the tourists at the harbor. I guess we are at that point since the weather is warming up. I don't believe a word that comes across on a police scanner, subjective information.

Tue Apr 26, 03:43:00 PM EDT
buzoncrime said...

Cham---I was just posting what i thought was the motivation (spoken or not) of why these young people were downtown in a large group.
And I mentioned that there did not seem to be any pitched battles with the police. In fact Sun reporter Julie Scharper interviewed some of them.

And while we have little news information, there did not seem to be any arrests, though there was a stabbing (not clear at all if that was related).

In any event, please tell us why you think they were all gathering there.
I just think that there's a huge gap in this town between the haves and have-nots, which cause a lot of problems.
I don't think anyone (anyone reasonable) would care if a bunch of middle-class kids were gathering an were boisterous--but I can think of some exceptions: Fells Point, Canton, and Federal Hill about 2am and Preakness in years past.

Tue Apr 26, 03:48:00 PM EDT
Cham said...

Buzoncrime: Here is something you don't get, I don't care why they are gathering. It doesn't matter whether I like that they are gathering or I don't. It doesn't matter that you like it or you don't. It doesn't matter if you are a racist or I am a racist or my anger level hits the roof that black teens are confabulating downtown to chat, dance and roam....or petition the government for a redress of grievances. It's their right to do so as outlined in the first amendment of the Constitution. I actually had to explain this very slowly to Bill Cole once. I suppose if it bothered me I'd take it up with some US Senator. But changing those amendments is a tough row to hoe, even if I had a problem with it I wouldn't waste my time.

All I can say is that I am impressed with the kid's fashion sense and dance ability. I know I could never dance like they do by the fountain.

Tue Apr 26, 04:06:00 PM EDT
ppatin said...

Cham:

You're right, they do have the right to assemble (until they break the law.) Just like I have the right to feel uncomfortable around a large group of Baltimore teenagers.

Tue Apr 26, 10:52:00 PM EDT
Maurice Bradbury said...

I guess how riotous a mob looks depends very much on what you see where you're standing.. this is why the world needs more than one or two reporters.
.. and poor teens, being a teenager bones. You're at the height of your energy and creative powers, but with such limited outlets for it all...

Wed Apr 27, 09:52:00 AM EDT

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)