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Obama on Baltimore Rioters: 'Treat Them Like Criminals'

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Presiden Barack Obama spoke out Tuesday on the violence and chaos that have enveloped Baltimore following the death of a black man in police custody.

"When individuals get crow bars to open doors to loot, they're not protesting, they're stealing," President Barack Obama said in his first public comments on the unrest.

"That is not a protest. That is not a statement. It's a handful of people taking advantage of a situation for their own purposes and they need to be treated as criminals," the president said, speaking from the White House Rose Garden.

Neighborhoods are in shambles Tuesday after demonstrators stormed the streets, attacking officers and setting buildings and squad cars on fire.

Click the player below to see CBN News' interview with Bishop Angel Nunez of the Baltimore Bilingual Church. He explains why now is the time for the Church to rise up.

Mobs of rioters left the city's streets looking like a war zone, after attacking and torching the city.

The roof of one police car was stomped and another set ablaze.

A CVS pharmacy was looted and then burned up.

Angry protesters also threw bricks at officers after an emotional funeral service for Freddie Gray, the black man who died of a spinal injury while in police custody.

15 Officers Injured, Two Seriously

At least 15 police officers have been injured in the rioting, two hospitalized and about two dozen people arrested.

The president said his thoughts are with the police officers who were injured as well as the family of Freddie Gray.

He added that the violence taking place in Baltimore distracts from the the thousands of people who, for many days, have taken part in peaceful protests "focused on entirely legitimate concerns in Baltimore."

"The thousands of demonstrators that did it the right way have been lost in the discussion," he continued.

The president's remarks echoed those of Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, who said, "This is not protesting, this is not your First Amendment rights. This is criminal acts doing damage to a community that is challenged in some ways  [and]  that do not need this."

Police say Gray was arrested after making eye contact with officers and then running away. He was held down, handcuffed and loaded into a van without a seatbelt. Police say they added leg cuffs after he became irate.

More Accountability for Law Enforcement

While authorities have not said how Gray was injured, many are pressing for more accountability among law enforcement personnel.

Gray's family is pleading for calm.

"I want ya'll to get justice for my son, but don't do it like this," Gray's mother, Gloria Darden, said.

Police have not been able to take control of the riots.

"We're putting out a request for up to 5,000 law enforcement  [officers]  from the regional area to assist us as well," Batts said.

Maryland's governor declared a state of emergency and authorities called in the National Guard to restore order.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake imposed a citywide curfew, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., beginning Tuesday night.

"Too many people have spent generations building up our city to see it destroyed by thugs," the mayor said.

'Space' to Destroy

But during a press conference last weekend, Rawlings-Blake had a different point of view.

"We also gave those who wished to destroy space to that as well," she told reporters.

In an open letter, Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., blasted the mayor, calling her comment an "invitation to destroy."

"If she is the head of the city; she should be thinking, and I don't believe she is," King said.

Meanwhile, authorities hope a show of overwhelming force will prevent another night of violence.

Many of Baltimore's schools have been closed and classes cancelled in response to threats of more violence.

Obama says problems with police officers mistreating poor minorities is nothing new. He says he can't federalize local police departments or force them to retrain their officers, but he says he can work with them. His administration is offering federal grants to forces that want to retrain officers, collect better data and acquire body cameras.

However, he adds that police can't be expected to solve or even contain the problems inherent in many minority communities, such as poverty, drugs and fatherless homes.

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