airlines and crews lines starting a service to the islands. it's the first effort for congress to normalize relations. that's it for this edition. thank you for watching. i'm antonio mora "america tonight" is next. see you in an hour. on "america tonight" - charmed city on the edge. a day after tensions can the clean-up help to rebuild the city, or did the death of freddie gray open a fissure between two balt morse, one that can't be heeled. next - baltimore unrest - state of emergency. thank you for joining us, i'm joie chen. baltimore likes it be known as

charm city but at this hour it's a city on edge, a city heading into the first night of an overnight curfew with 3,000 officers national guards men in place. so far we've seen subdued response as you see there. demonstrators are out in the street, after the curfew has been put in place. there are no indications that there has been confrontations. there's no reports of any sort of violence, looting, any indications of confrontation. although as we see, there are demonstrators who remain in place even after the curfew has gone in effect. it is a city that is bracing and is divided over what will come next and whether the huge rift by the death of a man injured in police custody can be healed. "america tonight"s adam may is a long-term resident of the city and saw the great divide up

close. >> yes, that curfew went in effect a minute ago. right now all eyes of the city are on this intersection. north avenue and pennsylvania avenue this is the scene where yesterday we saw worst looting and rioting, where the cvs drug store went up in flames people running in and out of the building. tonight a different scene, a calm protest at the intersection where hundreds are gathered in the streets. and next to them a line of police officers, and helicopters shining lights overhead. it's unclear how the situation will play out with the curfew in effect. one person who raised a lot of concerns over how the city handled the crisis is a former police officer a man by the name of ed-norris. he has an interesting story. he was the police commissioner resigned in disgrace from law

enforcement after he was found guilty of a federal crime, and has strong opinions as to what went wrong why the rioting got so out of control in baltimore, and believes the protesters are misguided. he does not believe the main problem is police misconduct, he beliefs it's a bigger problem, problems to do with income and equality and the root of the problem, according to him, the war on drugs. >> reporter: violent rioting in baltimore which has not been seen since 1968, after the assassination of martin luther king. dozens of businesses looted, cars set ablaze. more than 20 police officers injured by protesters hurling bricks and rocks. hundreds of protesters arrested. one of the great cities in america lost control of the seat. >> reporter: ed-norris was a new

york city police officer, leading the baltimore police department from 2000 to 2002. he was forced to retire from law enforcement after being convicted of misusing city funds. today he is a local radio host. >> three days and what happened when we finally got - the leash was let off, how long did it take to couple of riot? >> one night. >> reporter: you were watching this unfold on television. what was going through your mind? >> why are you letting this go on so long. that's all i thought. trying not to criticize the command staff of the police department. i was trained in new york. the rule was - my rule would be and people know that the first rock thrown would have been the last one. you don't let it go on you don't let your police officers be pelted with concrete to loot stores or burn out people's

livelihoods. people do not have insurance, their life savings is gone. >> reporter: the chaos after the arrest of freddie gray. after this was taken into police custody, the 25-year-old baltimore man spent a week in a coma. >> that's the biggest problem with the issue, nobody knows, nobody knows what happened to freddie gray. >> reporter: investigators are scheduled to turn over findings to state prosecutors on friday. the national guard has been called in. hundreds positioned and streets across the city after the governor declared a state of emergency. >> this evening, as a result of the serious violence and looting which has led to the destruction of property and put innocent marr landers at risk. i have declared a state of

emergency at the request of baltimore city. >> baltimore has been ranged one of the most viability cities in america. norris came seeking a challenge. >> when you came here what you saw on the creates -- streets, was it worse than you imagined? >> it was worse. i saw a police department demoralized. i pulled over a young officer. he said "we want to know what to do. tell us." he told me the frustration of a hands off policy, and the first day on patrol. i remember seeing a heroin deal. i'm in full uniform. and the guy selling heroin in front of me. i stared at him, gave him 3 seconds to run. he didn't run.

i got angry, got out of the car, chased him down took the gel caps out of the car and said you don't run when you see the police. he said "no no one stops us", that was my welcome to baltimore. >> he launched a policing strategy targetting drug galers and violent offenders. future leaders expanded that in what is known as zero tolerance policing. leading to mass incarceration. it's blamed on fuelling distrust. morris says there's other problems. >> you have poverty, other problems that have nothing to do with police. they are targeted. every time someone dies in police custody, it's rare.

it's a rare city. you can't tell me that is the reason for anger. >> we saw people at the funeral of freddie gray. i didn't fear for african-american kids. i buried several police officers. four were black. no one came to those funerals. >> what do we do to fix baltimore. >> we have to realise that drug addiction is not a crime, it's a disease, start treating it like one. failed social policies abandoning the cities. i think talk plainly. walking away from a group of people. when i walked here, i said it publicly. i got here there was an average. under 300. there were 250s. that still, so times the national average at that time. i felt if this was a majority

white city nobody cared. they just said that's baltimore. >> thoughts echoed by the president. >> in those environments if we think we'll send the police do the dirty work of containing the problems that arise there without, as a nation and as a society, saying what can we do to change those communities, to help lift the communities and give the kids opportunity we are not going to solve the problem. >> that message a centrepiece of protests. >> what do you think will happen if no one is indicted. problems. >> are you concerned about the safety of people here. >> of course everyone is in danger.

adam may, i'm surprised by what the chief, former chief was saying if he was in charge, the first would have been the last. i heard a few times today that look, the police faced with the rioters last night showed restraint. >> there was an awful lot of restraint. this evening the police mifr clarified why there were complaints - the earliest there was a problem... ..those protesters hurling the rocks - they were teenagers. and the police commission said "look, we are not going to take aggressive action against teenagers that left school early" that's why the police department took the restraint. you have seen it today. you have not seen aggressive action from the police. when you drive through the

streets, police officers are standing alongside the road with she had, batons. there's national guard, and a number of streets with armed soldiers with machine-guns. restrained in baltimore we regret the outburst but mostly since the curfew took into place, we have seen a fairly peaceful response from the protesters that have gathered. leaders, the mayor leading the charge saying this could be the city's defining moment. this is not reflective of the city. sounds like there's serious concern about how baltimore will be conceived after this. will it be written off as a city that is upfixable. >> people said that before it's an unfixable city. in many regards, this city never heeled from the race riots in 1968. some of the areas that you see on the news the last couple of days stores looted buildings and cars burnt.

these were same areas that saw drugs more than 40 years ago, and there are vacant buildings in the neighbourhood as a result of that. i think the big concern for leaders, once they get over this hurdle and somehow bring calm to the community and perhaps start addressing a bigger issue is the long-interpret impact on baltimore. i would say it's like the - there are two city the have, and the have not. both live in some cases one block away from each other. hold on. i want to take a look. police helicopters are now flying lower than before. they are announcing the curfew is in effect until 5:00a.m. you see the protesters are that are are not moving we'll have to see how this plays out. >> do you see - you have been reporting for several days do you see a change in the

attitude, the tension, the perception of what is going on there on the ground in baltimore? >> an attitude among the protesters police. can you clarify it. >> what you see in the community, do you see a different change from last night, from the night before. we i can talk about that. there was a guy having an outburst. yesterday when i talked about it people were angry, screaming profanities and smashing glass, and running down the streets with its from stores. i haven't seen that today. what you saw is a scene where some of the leaders people that live here came out with dust pans and brooms. a lady didn't want to walk on

broken glass, and took care of the one block. there's that sort of a change in attitude. you get other areas affected and go to other parts of baltimore. there was a feeling - one person described it to me that everywhere is looking at each other with suspicion - can we trust these people is arch safe am i safe in my home. it's an eerie feel to have. >> this is your home you care about baltimore. as you look around you, we see the shots from overhead. the police seem to have put their shields forward. there's a line there between the police and the demonstrators in the street. they don't seem to move away can you tell from where you are on the ground are the activists, demonstrators moving around and who is encouraging them to go home? >> so the police helicopter right now, which is obvious

head, and the news helicopters are nearby. i'm just maybe 100 yards away max from where the scope is that you are look -- scene is that you are looking there at the helicopter. the police helicopter is making the announcement. for the last hour or so community leaders urged people to go home. i ran into one woman, a retired state senator from baltimore representing this part of the city, indiana, and the capital. she was walking up to individual teenagers, mothers with young kids saying "it's time to go home. it's time to put your babies to bed", people out here were doing that. who is here is an interesting mix. i'll back out of the shot. a couple of people with signs, people that do not - that are upset about the freddie gray case also people that have expressed concerns about the rights of the city to impose this kind of a curfew forcing

everyone to go home at 10:00 p.m. some say they do not have the right to do that. >> there's agitators in the crowd - we have movement here. we have got bottles being hurled at police and the police line is now advancing. joie chen are you seeing this? >> we can see from here adam and explaining to the viewers, that we are looking at a live picture. we can't control much of this. the protesters are backing up and the media with them. mostly what we see is the media. we see some. police shields in place, it looks as though they have advanced forward at least a few yards. >> yes. so they advance forward about 30 feet or so and you're right, i mean there's a lot of media up here on the front lines of this and not many protesters a small group of protesters, and the media - bottles are lobbed from

behind the media. i was about to tell you that before we started the broadcast i saw an individual standing around the corner. he had a couple of batons, sticks, and they were up against his waste bands. he tied a handkerchief around his face put on a pair of ski goggles, and over that threw on a fire department jacket not a baltimore fire democrat jacket. ffd, some of the random. they are out here as well. it's what the police department calls instigators. not sure what the message is they don't have signs, but are in the crowd. >> we can see from the overhead shot. a couple of times, something hurled through the air at this distance. we are looking at the helicopter shot. it's hard to tell what it is. you've been able to ascertain that these are probably bottles or something thrown. i don't see any fire or anything like that.

>> no no fire. they are plastic water bottles thrown through the air. nothing flammable. the police helicopter that is circling obvious head is telling people to go home for viewers wondering what are we doing here we have clearance from the police department for members of the media to be here. it's a different level of expectation for the residents. they are supposed to be home right now, locked down inside their home. i know a lot of people that live in the city are not members of the media, and they are hungered down in the glasses. broken glass hurled at the police. yesterday, this scene pales in comparison to what we saw yesterday. this is awful. yesterday garbage cans set on fire were thrown at police. a friend of my witnessed propane

tanks stolen and looted from a store wrapped up in a flammable device, and those were thrown into the crowd. right now, if you are looking overhead or from the camera i'm not sure but the police line is advancing, moving towards the center of the intersection here and many more bottles are thrown into the crowd over the line of police. >> we see that. we see projectiles flying here, and we see the police move forward. the shields are up. they are moving towards the demonstrators, and we point out towards the media as well. they are moving slowly but forward. it is all on foot the law enforcement that is on the front line. there are no vehicles on the front line moving towards the demonstrators. it's a little different to what we have seen in other cities. we are looking to the demonstrators seeing people with signs. quite a few of the people in the

background are media as well. some of the people that you are looking at are activists and demonstrators, a few are the media. we are looking to the line. you see to the bottom third of the screen these are the police officers. there are about 3,000 law enforcement and national guards men called out to assist. city of baltimore asked for their assistance and they have come. federal forces local communities from around maryland contributed police force to this effort to keep things contained as the curfew gets under way. it's 20 minutes since the curfew took effect. clearly the people of baltimore understood that this is the hour this was supposed to happen in, and they were supposed to go home according to city leaders. at 10 o'clock eastern. they did not do that. adam are you seeing any indication that the agitators,

or there's any agitation moving towards the police line? >> no. in fact the distance between the police has grown. there's one woman in between the media and the police. the media backed up considerably and there's a few people in between. just a couple of people. it's interesting. one individual is holding a sign saying go home. not sure who it is aimed at. police or the media. that person is in the middle of the cloud, and not in an authoritative position in order to urge the people to go home. few people are going home now. i will say that compared to half an hour ago, the number of people at the intersection has dramatically dropped. many more were here before. i did see people leave. once 10 o'clock hit and they said the curfew is in effect. not many are leading.

we understand that "america tonight" sara hoy is with you. i know she talked to some activists. can you tell whether the folks you see around you are local or folks that come from other areas, the parents that we saw last night step forward and trying to bring their kids out of it. do you see that or do they loaning like they are coming from somewhere else. >> sara is talking to a comb of people out in the crowd. >> people wanted to come here and paint the corner black, take back what had happened yesterday, infuse it with positive energy. things shifted after the 10:00 p.m. as you see the helicopters, we the media are being arrived the leave. the folks asked to leave. it's changing the

the . >> the woman in the orioles cap. what was motivating her to stand here at this intersection. >> this is her city, they are broken she lives within blocks of this place, and said this is not our city. yes we have troubles. we are broken too. we want to take back the city. they were here celebrating earlier today in terms of good energy. people are helping to clean up. they were doing things to put a different light on what happened yesterday. no one is condoning it, people want people to know real people live in the city of baltimore. >> they do. real people live in the neighbourhood here. i talked to an individual down the way. they are sitting outside. kids are inside watching cartoons. let's look at what is happening. let's back out of the shot. there's smoke cannisters. >> they are cannes terse --

cannisters adam. >> we have fire works. i'm not sure who brought that out. >> a flash device, we don't know whoever they are. >> they are thrown from the crowd towards the police officers. >> and back again. >> maybe someone picked it up threw it back the other direction. >> before there was almost a standoff. police asked the media to leave. there are several helicopters above. things are thrown - particularly water bottles. the police crowd is moving. the line is advancing. they are about 50 yards from us and closing. >> they are moving closer. we are told though move. i may have to breakaway, they are coming up to us. >> we'll keep an eye on this. let's hear what the police say, we want to hear the orders given. step back they are saying. step back. so the media has now gotten off the street and they have moved to the side walk. the truck is coming through.

>> yes, it's moving the crowd is moving. the energy has changed obviously. you can hear yelling and chanting. police are clashing with the crowd. i don't know if it's police or agitators. people came not to be agitators. >> there were some people to be fair in the crowd, putting on dear ready to get out there and fight. not the majority but i want to say this. we would put this in persfelentive of -- perspective of who is out here protesting. a couple of thousand kids walked out of school to participate. there's 80,000 kids in baltimore that wept home, let's not lose that perspective. >> exactly, and coming up in a piece tomorrow no one had anything to do with that except helping to set it off. people are condoning that

before. >> adam i'm not sure what you guys can see, but there is quite a bit of red flame behind you. in the area that we had just a few moments seen a police officer. we are seeing other signs of something on fire, not big fire, other insinned yairy devices, a bit of smoke. not sure of your location compared to where the line was. since you moved down the street protesters are pushing down the street it looks like and vehicles sort of pushing them further back pushing them further back. getting away from areas where there's the most smoke and trying to send people into the neighbourhood. do you smell anything what sort of incendiary devices were these? >> we are not sure what that is. from where we are, this is like

a five way intersection. we have vantage in a couple of directions. i see more aggressive smoke is rising in that section. i'm not sure what is on fire. >> across north avenue at the intersection. it's out of our view point. there's something smouldering over there, and the police have reinvigorated their line, and the helicopters are almost encroaching. >> it's interesting to watch how the police tactics change. it is forming a perfect u and i don't see - i don't see many protesters left out here. i see the media and them. i think they've been pushed back. i see a person on the ground in front of the library. there's an individual on the ground. not sure if that person is injured, laying down back there. we'll have to take a look at that other person. appears that someone has moved from that area. >> all we can tell is it's us

watching them. them watching us. adam we see a bit of dispersal from the crowd from the helicopter shots. we see a bit of dispersal of the scene. they have been pushing some of the vehicles - sat up and pushing the protesters back it appears, gently not rapidly, and we are not seeing - we couldn't see from the vantage point where the officers with the shields have been moved to. there seems to be a strategy for parting the ways here, trying to move folks into a different position. yet you don't seem to see a lot of panic where you are, where you guys are standing. >> yes, you don't see that. it makes you wonder who are the police really trying to keep at bay, and is there anybody left to keep at bay, because i saw running down pennsylvania avenue

here in the other direction from where we are. members of the crowd going that way, and that is a pretty dense residential area back that way. there's a number of main streets around the area. it's hard to describe. baltimore is a city of many neighbourhoods. one pleads into the next. there's side streets, tine yoi row home centers. people could have gone in any direction. at this moment it seems to be a law enforce. takes an effective position. "america tonight"s adam may and sara hoy on the streets in baltimore. i'm joie chen in washington. al jazeera's live coverage of the events will continue in new york city with antonio mora at al jazeera america headquarters. thank you, we are watching the stand off in the streets. protesters defied the curfew...

>> are the media moving out of the area... ..they are warning us to go home. i don't think we have seen tear gas. i want to be clear. these are smoke and grenades. quite a few of them