Baltimore mayor under fire for "space to destroy" comments

Widespread rioting, looting and arson struck Baltimore over the last few days. Unfortunately for the decent people of Maryland's largest city, its leftist mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, gave criminals "space to destroy."

The brutes are looting again this morning.

From Fox News:

But over the weekend, Rawlings-Blake made what some saw as inflammatory remarks as she described how she had instructed police to give residents protesting the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody the opportunity to exercise their right to free speech.

She seemed to take that notion a step further: "It's a very delicate balancing act, because, while we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.

"And we worked very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to deescalate, and that's what you saw."

As her "destroy" remarks faced a buzzsaw of criticism amid the riots Monday, the mayor initially tried to deny she said them.

Rawlings-Blake is also under fire for not calling for assistance from the state until the mayhem was out of control.