国际英语新闻:Baltimore Mayor Lifts Overnight Curfew

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has ended the citywide overnight curfew as protesters hold another rally against police violence outside city hall.

Baltimore was in turmoil last week after the funeral for Freddie Gray -- the African American man who died last month while in police custody.

Rawlings-Blake said she did not want to have the curfew in place longer than necessary. "My number one priority in instituting a curfew was to ensure the public peace, safety, health and welfare of Baltimore citizens," she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union and business owners, especially restaurants, criticized the curfew.

Shortly after the mayor's announcement ending the curfew, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said some of the 4,000 soldiers and police brought in from other states have begun to leave the city. Hogan said the state of emergency in Baltimore will not be lifted until all the soldiers have left.

In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland criticized the curfew as "being used to restrict the First Amendment rights of protestors, legal observers, and the media" while also "engendering needless tension and hostility."

Demonstrators took advantage of a beautiful spring day to rally peacefully outside city hall Sunday. Many prayed for peace.

The neighborhood shopping mall that was looted during Monday's riots reopened for the first time Sunday, giving residents badly-needed accesses to a close-by supermarket and department store.

Parts of the city exploded in violence after Gray's funeral Monday, leaving stores and cars burned, police officers hurt, and more than 200 people arrested. The 25-year-old African-American man died of spinal injuries suffered while in police custody.

Baltimore state's attorney's office has charged six officers involved in Gray's arrest - three of them African American - with crimes ranging from manslaughter to murder. Prosecutors say Gray was arrested for no reason and that officers ignored his pleas for medical help.