As the charred city tried to pick up the pieces from last night's fiery looting and rioting following Freddie Gray's emotive funeral, Governor Larry Hogan announced he was moving his office from Annapolis to Baltimore to oversee the situation after declaring a state of emergency. 

Already sporadic outbreaks of violence have broken out as protesters face off against police, while volunteers attempt to clean up the damage that saw 150 vehicles set alight, 19 buildings burned and 235 arrests made - including 34 juveniles.

Heavily armored Baltimore police in riot gear used pepper spray to break up crowds that gathered at a pharmacy on the corner of West North Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue - where a CVS was gutted by rioters on Monday. 

With parts of the city resembling a smoldering war zone, Hogan confirmed 5,000 law enforcement officers would strictly enforce the 10pm to 5am curfew with 5,000 National Guard on standby as local media report that looting in broad daylight is continuing.

Hogan said New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a political ally of the Republican governor, would sent 150 troopers to help out.

'It's not going to happen again. We are not going to have another repeat of what happened last night,' said a defiant Hogan. 

'We'll be more prepared here,' added Hogan. 'We'll have more people here from the police, from the Guard and from the fire departments around the state.' 

The city, one of the largest on the East Coast, will effectively shut down tonight following the protests which were sparked by Freddie Gray's death in police custody earlier in April. 

In an afternoon press conference, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake described the violence last night as Baltimore's 'darkest days' but she says her heart was warmed by the efforts to clean up the city on Tuesday.

'Last night was a very rough period for our city, but today I think we saw a lot more of what Baltimore is about. We saw people coming together to reclaim our city, clean our city and heal out city,' Rawlings-Blake said.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts also spoke at the press conference, and said Tuesday was a mostly peaceful day with just a few bouts of violence and opportunists looting burned out businesses. 

Batts said anyone out between the 10pm and 5am curfew will be stopped by police, with the only exceptions for travel being work and medical emergencies.

'We do not want to engage in any forceful action,' Batts said.

The commissioner also defended the relatively hands-off approach taken to yesterday's violent riots, saying a large contingent of the protesters were just teenagers. 

'They're old enough to know better...but they're still kids.'

Batts also acknowledged that there is a deep-rooted issue between the local black community and his police department which needs to change.

He says that in the past two years, he has been trying to integrate his officers into the community more with special school and athletic programs.

'We need to change the culture in the Baltimore Police Department,' Batts said. 'We have more to do but we can't do it this way be destroying this city.'

(dailymail.co.uk)