Riots, looting and fire raged in Baltimore Monday night. The riots followed the funeral of Freddie Gray, a young black man who died in police custody earlier this month.

Twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray was arrested on April 12 when police found a switchblade in his pocket. He was later sent to the hospital, and on April 19 he was declared dead from serious spine injury. Thousands of people protested on April 25, demanding an explanation about the death from local police.

After some protesting erupted in riots, in which downtown storefronts were smashed and police cars were damaged, Baltimore police were accused of allowing protesters to commit crimes without punishment. In a press conference on Sunday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made the extraordinary admission that she asked the Baltimore Police Department to “give those who wished to destroy space to do that.”

“We work very hard to keep that balance [between free speech and destructive elements], and to put ourselves in the best position to de-escalate,” she said.

It appears that law enforcement’s light-handed approach encouraged more lawlessness. On Monday, the protests turned considerably more violent. Multiple buildings and cars were set on fire.

Over 200 people have been arrested. At least 15 police officers have been injured; two of them are in serious condition. Police are investigating a lead on whether the riots are related to a few gangs in the city that were planning to attack local white police officers.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake has since denied what she said on Sunday, saying that she “did not instruct police to give space to protesters seeking to create violence.” She announced a week-long 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew starting Tuesday. Maryland’s governor declared a state of emergency and is calling the National Guard to restore order to the city. More than 1,000 Maryland police officers are on standby.

These events are part of a rising trend of race-related incidents that exacerbate public mistrust of law enforcement and spark more lawless acts. Anger among certain high-profile segments of the black population in particular is growing, and is boiling over in rioting and violence with increasing frequency in American cities.

Allowing “those who wished to destroy space to do that” is part of a larger trend emerging in response to this violence. Some officials insist that the answer is for the law to back away from enforcement policies and procedures that seem to disproportionately affect racial minorities.

For example, in New York City, after the high-profile arrest and death of Eric Garner for selling untaxed loose cigarettes, legislation is being crafted to decriminalize certain public-order offenses. An accidental shooting in an East New York housing project has led to calls for police to scale back their patrols of public housing. The death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has created a movement to reduce penalties for failing to pay criminal and traffic fines or to show up for court appearances.

The effect of responding to lawlessness by handcuffing law enforcement is very dangerous. It is certain to add fuel to the fire that is burning cities like Baltimore.

To understand how this burning in our cities was actually prophesied in the Bible, read Gerald Flurry’s article from the November-December 2014 Trumpet print edition, titled “Where America’s Race Riots Are Leading.”