LA Mayor Eric Garcetti implements curfew in response to demonstrations
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti implemented a one-night curfew for LA residents starting Saturday at 8 p.m. until Sunday at 5:30 a.m. (Tanmay Shankar/Assistant Photo editor)
This post was updated May 31 at 2:13 p.m.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti implemented a curfew for all LA citizens at a press conference Saturday following protests across LA.
The curfew will be implemented for one night from 8 p.m. on Saturday to 5:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Garcetti extended the curfew for another day at a press conference Sunday. The curfew will remain in place from 8 p.m. on Sunday until 5:30 a.m. on Monday.
The curfew will remain over the entire city of Los Angeles.
Garcetti said the goal is to keep all Los Angeles citizens safe and give law enforcement and firefighters space to keep the peace.
The curfew was put in place to increase the safety of demonstrators, law enforcement and all Los Angeles citizens, Garcetti said.
Garcetti enacted the curfew in response to several protests around LA, including a protest where a police car was burned down near West Hollywood that was declared an unlawful assembly by the Los Angeles Police Department around 5 p.m.
Garcetti extended the curfew across the entire city of LA, with an exemption for people traveling between work, people seeking emergency medical care and emergency responders, according to several tweets from Garcetti.
The city of Beverly Hills is also on curfew over the same time period, according to a tweet from Lili Bosse, the mayor of Beverly Hills.
The curfew will be placed downtown but police will be monitoring all parts of the city.
Garcetti said COVID-19 testing centers in LA were temporarily closed for safety reasons.
Certain COVID-19 testing centers in Los Angeles will remain closed Monday, Garcetti said at the Sunday press conference. He added that the Dodger Stadium testing center would remain open Monday.
“Right now, it is so critical for us to reestablish the peace in this city, so that we can do that work and have those conversations,” Garcetti said at a press conference.
Protests in LA near the Fairfax District on Saturday resulted in a standoff between police officers and protesters. Many buildings were vandalized and several LAPD cars were set on fire.
Just under 400 arrests were made at the Saturday protests, said LAPD Chief of Police Michel Moore.
The protests started after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died while under police custody in Minneapolis. Footage of his arrest shows a police officer arresting Floyd with his knee on his neck.
The prosecutors’ report said the police officer had kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Video footage shows Floyd repeatedly telling the police officer that he could not breathe. Floyd was pronounced dead an hour later at the Hennepin County Medical Center.
