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Atlanta Extends Nighttime Curfew Fourth Night In A Row
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This post has been updated since its original publication date.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has ordered a citywide curfew from 9 p.m. until sunrise Wednesday, June 3. This is the fourth night in a row that officials hope to avoid violence, looting and property damage across the city.
Atlanta police arrested 258 people over the weekend, and another 95 people were arrested as of 11 p.m. Monday, June 1.
After the 9 p.m. curfew time Monday, the majority of protesters cleared the streets without incident, Atlanta police spokesman Sgt, John Chafee said via email.
"However, a group of protestors remained inside Centennial Olympic Park and refused to leave," Chafee said. "A number of them threw rocks and discharged fireworks toward officers. Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd and a number of arrests were made."
Atlanta Police Officers kneel in solidarity with protesters in downtown Atlanta. #OneAtlanta :@astridtv1 pic.twitter.com/5TJ8AxsKDH— City of Atlanta, GA (@CityofAtlanta) June 1, 2020
“I am taking the very unusual and extreme step of instituting a curfew in our city this evening from 9 p.m. to sunrise,” Bottoms said in a Saturday evening press conference. “I ask you to please, if at all possible, find yourselves in a safe place in your home this evening.”
MARTA is suspending service starting at 9 p.m. as well.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed an updated order authorizing up to 1,500 Georgia National Guard troops to patrol Atlanta after a number of violent demonstrators – separate from a larger peaceful protest – smashed windows, set several police vehicles ablaze and looted stores in downtown Atlanta and Buckhead into the early morning hours Saturday.
Atlanta Police chief Erika Shields said that her officers anticipated a protest in light of the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd and called it, “a murder that was filmed.”
APD said more than 70 people were arrested in connection with last night’s events, and Chief Shields had strong words for those that had law enforcement “sitting on a powder keg.”
“It became very apparent to us that this was a highly calculated terrorist organization,” she said. “I don't say that loosely: When you come in, and your goal is to inflict harm and property damage without any regard to human life, you are a terrorist.”
Shields added that it was her belief that many of those that destroyed property and caused chaos were not necessarily Atlantans.
“They were lost when they were in the protest they didn't know how to march to the state capitol, that's a clue,” she said.
“The protesters who organized protests in Atlanta – we know them, they don't always agree with us sometimes... They didn't know these people, they didn't want these people, because at this point they were not fighting for anyone's civil rights, they were here to destroy Atlanta.”
As the clock inched closer to 9 p.m., two large protests were percolating at the Governor’s Mansion in Buckhead and in Centennial Olympic Park in Downtown Atlanta.
In a video message, Kemp said that he was outraged at the destruction and those who co-opted a movement to cause damage.
“What started as peaceful and productive ended in violence and destruction,” he said. “Protests with a pure purpose were corrupted by some with a different agenda.”
In a late-night press conference Friday, Bottoms was joined by rappers T.I. and Killer Mike, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s daughter Bernice King for an impassioned press conference urging people to stay home and avoid being associated with a clash in downtown Atlanta.
A large number of state and local law enforcement has been mobilized around metro Atlanta in response to planned protests and to prevent a repeat of Friday night’s violence.
“We have an absolute zero-tolerance policy, there will be no lawlessness,” Shields said. “It’s not about protesting anymore, it’s about saving our city. This is not who Atlanta is, and these folks who come here thinking they’re going to pull this crap are mistaken.”
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