President Obama blamed a "handful of people" for the chaos over the last few days in Baltimore, which has suffered enough mayhem to warrant authorities to call in around 10,000 reinforcements and make over 200 arrests.

The president's belated statement came at a press conference in Washington Tuesday, where Obama said there's "no excuse" for the violence by the "handful" of troublemakers. "It is not a protest. It is not a statement. It is a handful of people taking advantage of the situation," Obama said.

OBAMA: There’s no excuse for the kind of violence that we saw yesterday. It is counterproductive. When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they’re not protesting. They’re not making a statement. They’re stealing. When they burn down a building, they’re committing arson. And they’re destroying and undermining businesses and opportunities in their own communities. That robs jobs and opportunity from people in that area.

After giving the mayor and the governor permission to "stop" the "senseless violence and destruction,” Obama made sure to underscore that there had been “multiple days” of peaceful protests before the violence broke out and “distracted” attention away from their “entirely legitimate concerns.”

He then chided the press for allowing themselves to focus on the wrong thing, saying, “Frankly, [the peaceful protests] didn’t get that much attention. And one burning building will be looped on television over and over again…”

Obama went on to talk about the "slow-rolling crisis" of racial unrest in the country. To truly address law enforcement issues in low-income communities, Obama said it was important for police to recognize the need to make major changes. But "we can't just leave this to the police," said the president; not only does law enforcement need to do some "soul-searching," so does the entire country:

OBAMA: [W]e have seen too many instances of what appears to be police officers interacting with individuals—primarily African American, often poor—in ways that raise troubling questions… I think there are police departments that have to do some soul-searching. I think there are some communities that have to do some soul-searching... But I think we as a country have to do some soul-searching. If our society really wanted to solve the problem, we could, but it requires everybody saying this is important... and that we don't just pay attention to these communities when a CVS burns.

His ideas on how the country could prevent future riots: free early education in low income neighborhoods, enacting sweeping criminal justice reform, including better police body cameras and new accountability measures, and directing more money to urban communities.

Meanwhile, the mayhem caused by the "handful" of rioters—including 144 car and 15 buildings burned since Monday afternoon and a few dozen police officers injured—has forced local and state officials to impose a curfew and call for reinforcements, including what state police superintendent Col. William Palozzi called a "huge" response, including calling for nearby states to send up to 5,000 law enforcement officers and deploying up to 5,000 National Guardsmen to keep the peace.

Video via Fox News.

This article has been updated.