Several detained for violating curfew in Sacramento as peaceful protest ends at Chavez Plaza
In 2018, Sacramento police shot Stephon Clark in his grandmother’s backyard holding nothing but a cellphone.
On Monday night, Clark’s brother, Stevante, did a remarkable job keeping hundreds of protesters calmer than they’ve been in days, leading about 650 of them on a short march through downtown Sacramento after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew.
With California National Guard troops and police watching, Clark kept the crowd calm and under control, saying he wanted the unrest, burglaries and vandalism of the last few days to come to an end.
“I want it dark as f--- and them to feel like they’re ready for something and it was nothing,” he told the crowd. “I want it to be a ... ghost town.”
The crowd complied.
Sacramento’s curfew order took effect at 8 p.m. Monday. National Guard troops were stationed at prominent local buildings. Local police officers at intersections with bullhorns told marchers they could be arrested for “unlawful assembly.”
The protest was smaller than the previous night’s and much more peaceful. The previous night’s unrest lead to widespread vandalism and break-ins throughout downtown and midtown.
Sacramento citizens, community leaders and Mayor Darrell Steinberg gathered Monday morning for another cleanup campaign after Sunday night saw looting and vandalism at midtown and downtown businesses.
The problems were so widespread California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered 500 National Guard troops to deploy to the city.
The chaos followed mostly peaceful daytime demonstrations against Minneapolis police officers’ killing of George Floyd and other recent alleged police brutality.
Here is what happened on Monday.
10:30 p.m.: 25 people detained for curfew violation
Officers continued to detain people for violating curfew orders. Sacramento Bee reporters witnessed roughly 25 people being detained. But, otherwise, no other major incidents were reported.
10 p.m.: Police detaining stragglers violating curfew
Police were rounding up and detaining the stragglers who didn’t leave the area after Stevante Clark’s protest march ended. Four young women were arrested on L Street between 10 and 11th streets. They claimed to have ran from the officers out of fear.
“We didn’t want to get shot,” one of the women said.
The arresting officer declined to comment. At 10th and L, another three people were being detained.
9:30 p.m.: Activists are telling people to go home
The march led by Stevante Clark ended and crowds began to disperse, but a few stragglers hung around. A few dozen people still hung out at 10th and J Street.
But they were confronted by activists with a bullhorn, telling them they should leave.
“You’re not supporting black lives matter,” one woman told the stragglers over a bullhorn.
9 p.m.: Protesters remain peaceful an hour after curfew
An hour after Sacramento’s 8 p.m. curfew, the police and National Guard troops have stayed on the sidelines and watched as protesters continue to peacefully defy the orders marching from Cesar Chavez park to the District Attorney’s Office back to Cesar E. Chavez Plaza.
It was a drastic contrast from the night before. By 8:30 p.m. Sunday, a group of about 200 people broke off from around 1,000 protesters at Chavez park and began a night of breaking windows, burglaries and vandalism.
8:30 p.m.: Stevante Clark marches protesters to DA’s Office
Ignoring Sacramento’s 8 p.m. curfew but staying peaceful, Stephon Clark’s brother, Stevante Clark, led the 650 protesters to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. He demanded the group stay peaceful, going so far as to tell a man who climbed on a National Guard to get off.
“If you’re with me, take a ... knee,” Clark said. He then grabbed a bullhorn and began to chant the names various African American men around the country who have been killed by police.
District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert declined to prosecute the officers who shot Clark’s brother, Stephon, in 2018, in his grandmother’s backyard. Stephon Clark wasn’t armed, and officers said they mistook a cell phone for a gun. The killing set off a year of protests in Sacramento.
Stevante Clark said he was organizing a recall campaign against Schubert.
8 p.m.: Curfew begins; marchers ignore it
Police announced over bullhorns along intersections as 650 protesters marched through downtown that the 8 p.m. curfew was in effect and that their assembly was unlawful. The marchers responded by turning down other streets.
Earlier, as the marchers passed National Guard troops, several members of the group stared them down or flipped them off, showing no sign that the city’s curfew order would be followed.
The protesters then traveled to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, where Stevante Clark spoke to the group about Sacramento police shooting and killing his brother, Stephon, in 2018.
7:45 p.m.: Marchers are on the move
The group of protesters at the Capitol marched to join a group already in Cesar Chavez Plaza downtown, forming a group of about 600 people — an hour before the city’s new curfew was about to take effect at 8 p.m. The gathering at the plaza was billed as a candlelight vigil by organizers.
They chanted “George Floyd! and “Black Lives Matter!”
The vigil at the park began with prayers, songs and a ceremony by members of indigenous tribes. Speakers dedicated the gestures to George Floyd, a black man killed in Minneapolis, and said it was in solidarity with minorities who are frequently a target of police.
“We have been resisting for more than 525 years,” said a woman speaking. “They’ve done everything they can to kill us. They’ve done everything they can to systemically oppress us. And we’re still here.”
“Please do not agitate them. We did not ask you to do that...It’s going to be my face they’re looking for,” said Starletta Careter, 39 of Davis.
Carter, who is black, said she decided to speak to the crowd after witnessing vandals break windows and pilfer stores Sunday.
She said the actions only undermine the cause and further alienated black people with the police. Nearly two hours after the event began, another group of protesters from the capitol joined.
Stevante Clark, the brother of Sacramento’s Stephon Clark, told the crowd that agitators make them lose focus, and he insisted on avoiding violence.
“We’re out here because George Floyd should be alive,” he said.
The crowd began moving north down 10th Street.
6:30 p.m.: Crowd begins to form again at Capitol
About 250 people gathered at the east steps of the California Capitol building — the site of numerous protests and rallies over the weekend.
They chanted George Floyd’s name and implored the 50 or so California Highway Patrol officers behind barricades to take a knee in solidarity. The officers, in riot gear, didn’t comply.
Taking a knee shows that you care,” one woman screamed.
The CHP has guarded the building during the unrest and officers have at times been subject to insults and hurled objects like oranges and bottles.
On Sunday, though, activists leading the rally confronted those throwing things and demanded they stop.
5:30 p.m.: National Guard begins to make appearance
Two Humvees and two troop transport trucks loaded with soldiers in desert camouflage drove by Cesar Chavez Park in downtown Sacramento, where about 200 protesters peacefully gathered and listened to speakers.
Most of the crowd, which sat silently listening to prayers being spoken in the Maidu Native American language, didn’t notice or react.
Meanwhile, at DOCO, National Guard personnel stood in fatigues and riot helmets and carrying rifles.
At least three Humvees with Guardsmen headed south in the direction of the Capitol. The plaza itself was quiet, with every business closed and several boarded up, including the Macy’s, the first business that was ransacked Saturday night.
In Auburn, a half-dozen sheriff’s patrol vehicles were parked and deputies strolled around the historic courthouse where protesters had yet to arrive. Police captain Troy Minton-Sander said about 60 people protested Sunday night, marching in the streets, and it was peaceful. But there have been rumors things could get heated Monday night. A passing car shouted “you’re in the wrong town” at two protesters holding signs on a street corner.
4:28 p.m.: South Sacramento businesses alerted about protest
Businesses in the area around Florin Road in south Sacramento were warned about a protest expected to begin at 6 p.m. and urged to board up their windows.
Corey De Roo, executive director of the Florin Road Partnership, said the protest was expected to begin at 6 p.m. by the Sizzler restaurant in Florin Town Centre, which used to be called Florin Mall. Its tenants include a Walmart Supercenter
She said the mall is being evacuated, as it was Sunday, and tenants are urged to secure their properties. “If they’re able to board up, good,” she said. “If they can’t, that’s OK.”
She said three businesses in the Florin area were vandalized Sunday.
The same warning went out to tenants of Pacific Rim Plaza, a major shopping center in the nearby Little Saigon neighborhood on Stockton Boulevard.
Paul Vu, property manager of Pacific Rim, said he notified tenants they should try to board up their businesses in preparation for the protest expected at the Sizzler.
Downtown and Midtown also were active with crews hammering up particleboard in front of doors and windows. The Metro Chamber of Commerce sent out a message advising store owners to board up.
Meanwhile, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said a small protest had started outside a Chick-fil-A in Roseville, and there is another protest planned at 6 p.m. at the historic courthouse in Auburn.
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said that while no protests are planned in the area, the region is taking precautions.
“With the safety of our community members and businesses in mind, we have increased the amount of patrol deputies that are working,” the department said in a Facebook post. “We have also called in assistance from the National Guard and you may see their presence along with us as needed. Lastly, with the assistance of CHP, we will be closing Silva Valley Parkway off ramp from Highway 50 at 5 p.m. At this time, there is no plan for a countywide curfew.”
4 p.m.: National Guard deployed to Sacramento
About 500 National Guard troops started to arrive in Sacramento on Monday, according to a city news release.
The city and police department made the request for additional assistance Sunday, the release said.
The National Guard troops will allow the police to respond to any reports of violence and destruction of property as a fourth night of George Floyd protests is expected, the release said. The National Guard have been helping on coronavirus response in Sacramento for several weeks.
2:50 p.m.: Placerville shuttering Main Street
The city of Placerville said its historic Main Street business district would be closed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. to guard against any potential violence.
“We will have increased law enforcement presence throughout the city to protect against any potential civil unrest. At this time, we have not learned of anything definitive but we are taking additional measures of security,” the city’s police department said on Facebook.
1:15 p.m.: Gov. Newsom addresses violence, looting and protests
Gov. Gavin Newsom during an early afternoon news conference said protests across the U.S. are the result of communities expressing their voice “from a place of hurt and pain,” but that looting, violence and threats have “no place in this state and in this nation.”
“The black community is not responsible for what’s happening in this country right now. We are,” Newsom said, speaking at Genesis Church in south Sacramento. “Our institutions are responsible. We are accountable to this moment. Let’s just call that out.”
Newsom said his administration continues to work with police departments, sheriffs, mayors and other local community leaders to address damage and looting that have now continued for close to a week in some parts of the state. He said 4,500 National Guard members are “pre-assembled” and on call to respond, as thousands already have been in Southern California, but that guard members aren’t sent into communities until they are requested.
“You cannot proactively send them in without creating more problems than you fix.”
The governor said no statewide curfew is being considered, as different regions of California face different challenges and needs better suited for “experts on the ground” to make decisions upon.
Newsom also echoed statements by Sacramento city leaders earlier in the morning, who had said that violent riots and looting had been instigated by organized groups that are mostly separate from those gathering for peaceful protest.
He called those groups responsible for looting “well-defined” but declined to name them.
“Many come from other parts, other parts of the country,” Newsom said, but many are also “homegrown.”
Local jeweler hit hard by looters
Sharif Jewelers Vault, on Marconi Avenue in Carmichael, was broken into on Sunday, in an act that appeared more targeted than the mass looting and vandalism downtown, where Sharif Fine Jewelers at 10th and K streets was also hit twice by looters and vandals over the weekend.
“I think that was someone intentionally trying to take advantage of the situation,” said Omar Sharif, who serves as a spokesman for his family’s chain of jewelry stores.
Sharif said Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies responded quickly and it was not clear whether anything was taken from the Carmichael location.
The vast majority of Sunday’s vandalism and theft occurred in downtown and midtown; the Sharif store in Carmichael, which was boarded up Monday, appeared to be the only business damaged for miles around. A neighboring 99 Cents Only store and Jack-in-the-Box restaurant had no visible signs of damage.
“It’s unfortunate, and we really just never have been in a position like this before,” said Sharif, whose company was founded by family in Jerusalem in the 1930s.
11 a.m.: Police chief calls out ‘intentional, organized chaos’
The mayor, city council members, Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn and local African American leaders including from the local NAACP and Black Chamber of Commerce chapters spoke at a news conference outside of City Hall on Monday morning, condemning racial injustice as well as the violence that broke out locally over the weekend.
Hahn called the video out of Minneapolis “horrific” before saying Sacramento’s recent demonstrations showcased both the best and worst of the community and nation as a whole.
“We had community members that literally stopped violent confrontations between police and community members … we saw police officers that stood strong in the face of violence, anger, emotion, and performed admirably,” the chief said.
“… But at the same time we saw something that I wouldn’t call protest. I would call that intentional, organized chaos. And those are people that just simply do not care about our community and do not care about our people.”
Hahn said this organized effort included people “dropping off boxes of rocks to the protests so they could throw them at officers” and said the department “had officers hit in the head with bricks.”
Department spokesman Officer Karl Chan said Monday morning there were no reports of city police suffering anything beyond minor injuries, such as bruising.
“They were trying to pull officers into the crowd to assault them” on Friday and Sunday nights, Hahn said. “Fortunately they weren’t successful.”
9 a.m.: Curfew tonight, National Guard considered
Sacramento will have a curfew in place beginning at either 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. Monday after the two previous nights were filled with destruction, Steinberg announced this morning.
The curfew will formally be set during a 3:30 p.m. City Council meeting, which was pushed back from 2 p.m. Steinberg remained vague about the exact parameters and what the curfew will entail, with the rules expected to be announced after that closed meeting.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce said downtown and midtown businesses are “encouraged to close early and be prepared to board up” as they await more official guidance from the city on what the curfew will involve.
The city will also consider whether it is necessary to bring in the National Guard for enforcement.
The mayor and city council on Sunday afternoon had briefly considered implementing a curfew, before opting to keep that option on the table depending on how Sunday night proceeded.
During a large, peaceful gathering at Cesar Chavez Plaza at dusk Sunday, organizers urged people not to steal from small businesses. But once again, similar to the night before, a group broke off and began breaking windows and stealing merchandise.
8:45 a.m.: Destruction evident from downtown to midtown
Volunteers walked J and K streets, taking inventory and sweeping up debris from out front of restaurant after restaurant, store after store — many of which had only been able to reopen in a limited capacity a little more than a week earlier due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
From 16th and L, one could hear the crunch of shattered glass being swept up and deposited into bins.
In addition to storefronts, some cars at the Hertz rental lot on 16th Street between J and K had windows knocked out as well.
8:30 a.m.: Arden Fair Mall to stay closed
Mall owner and local developer Mark Friedman said Monday morning that Arden Fair Mall would stay closed Monday due to protests, as he surveyed damage to his properties in downtown Sacramento.
The mall was also closed Sunday.
About 130 businesses vandalized in downtown Sacramento
Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, addressed a group of about 100 volunteers ready to sweep and shovel up broken windows and other damaged property in the aftermath of Sunday’s looting and vandalism.
Ault said that about 130 businesses have had their doors and windows broken. He estimates $10 million in damage has been done, and that about 300 buildings had graffiti on them as of Monday morning.
Ault asked volunteers gathered at Youssefi Square, 7th and K streets, to help take inventory on the damage.
“There’s a lot of work to do, that’s an understatement,” he said.
Volunteer Hugh Reise, 71, brought his own wheelbarrow and tools to help clean up damage to Sacramento.
“It pains me to see people destroy our city,” Reise said. Of cleaning up, he added: “That’s something I can do.”
‘Organized criminal element’ to blame for some damage, councilman says
Sacramento City Councilman Jeff Harris on Monday morning says the city has reason to believe that at least some of the weekend’s chaos, vandalism, looting and property damage was caused by organized groups not connected to the protesters, though it is possible there is “overlap.”
“We have intel to know an organized criminal element is coming into town to create havoc,” Harris said. “We don’t think it’s associated with the protest, but perhaps there’s some overlap. Protesters are frustrated with them. We have a real situation here.”
Steinberg added during the morning’s informal announcement of Monday night’s curfew that the city believes much of the vandalism is a coordinated effort by groups on bicycles, communicating with one another via cellphone.
“We don’t know who those people are. We are trying to find out.”
The mayor, as well as local activists, said during the weekend that they suspected some of the people responsible for Saturday’s theft and property damage, particularly that seen outside the Sacramento County jail on I street, were “outside agitators” not associated with the main protest group.
“A lot of these people aren’t from here. They’re outside agitators and we’re left with the stain. People are coming from other places and tearing (things) up. A lot of what happened came from people from the outside,” Sacramento activist Jamilia Land said Sunday.
“I don’t know,” Steinberg said, when asked about outside provocateurs. “We’ve heard all kinds of things – word that some of this is organized from outside Sacramento.”
There was outside assistance for police as well, with 10 law enforcement agencies in the city Sunday night helping Sacramento police, Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said.
8 a.m.: Downtown Sacramento partnership cleaning up
Sacramento Bee reporters at the scene Sunday night witnessed windows being shattered at an optometrist’s office; a fire erupting at the Rite Aid store at 9th and K; and looting at the 7-Eleven at 8th and J and the BevMo store on J street, both of which had also been hit one night earlier.
The downtown Sacramento partnership tweeted a call for the community to “clean #DowntownSac,” meeting at 8 a.m. this morning at 7th and K streets. Steinberg retweeted the campaign, telling those interested in helping out to wear gloves, jeans and close-toed shoes.
“Show how much we all love @TheCityofSac,” Steinberg tweeted.
Steinberg will meet this morning with members of the downtown partnership to discuss the damage and what needs to be done to avoid this happening a third night in a row.
On Sunday, the mayor and city briefly considered imposing a curfew, but decided to back off. Steinberg said Sunday though that a curfew could well be in order tonight. He plans to discuss that again with city officials.
“A really rough night for our district,” Ault said in an email to members of the downtown partnership. “We are seeing significant damage and looting, Many of the impacted businesses had just regrouped from (Saturday) night’s events. Obviously, we are devastated by the issues and truly never anticipated this level of impacts and damage.”
»» Read more: Sacramento cleans up again after looting, vandalism follow Floyd protest
7:30 a.m.: Deli owner: ‘It’s like a bomb’
Elias Silhi, who has owned Tony’s Delicatessen & Catering at 12th and J streets for 29 years, arrived to a “ransacked” restaurant Monday morning.
“It’s like a bomb went off in the place,” Silhi said. “As you see here, nothing but damage from A to Z.”
Of the deli’s large storefront windows: “All gone. Everything.”
25 arrested Sunday in Sacramento, police say
Sacramento Police Department spokesman Officer Karl Chan said 22 people were arrested for looting Sunday, as well as three demonstrators for failure to disperse after assemblies in downtown city streets were declared unlawful.
Chan said some officers were hit by “frozen water bottles” and bruised, but that no instances of serious injuries to city police have been documented as of Monday morning.
Sunday’s damage ‘worse than’ Saturday, construction teams say
“It was worse today than it was yesterday,“ said Ron Gray, owner of Gray Construction, as he and his crews surveyed the damage Monday at Bevmo. “This is something.”
Gray’s company has been working 15-hour days the last two days, hurriedly putting up plywood over shattered windows at stores and businesses all around central Sacramento.
“We just did Target on Broadway, all the windows were blown out. It was loaded,“ he said.
The Target was expected to open anyway Monday morning, according to store personnel.
The CVS store at 17th and K was also badly damaged, and windows were smashed at Mikuni’s and PF Chang’s near 16th and J street before police established a heavy presence near the intersection Sunday night.
Demonstrations started early Sunday afternoon as a rally at Cesar E. Chavez Plaza, across I street from Sacramento City Hall between 9th and 10th streets.
A group of about 800 marched from there toward the state Capitol building shortly after 4 p.m. By around 6:30 p.m., hundreds of protesters took to Interstate 5, shutting down both directions of traffic relatively briefly as demonstrators faced off with the California Highway Patrol. CHP officers used batons and some flash-bangs to herd the group back up the P Street ramp, and most were off the freeway by about 7 p.m.
The relative calm came to an end around 8:20 p.m., when a crowd of roughly 200 broke off from the main group, beginning to set off fireworks and some breaking car and storefront windows along J Street. More windows were smashed, and looting began, around 9 p.m.
Sacramento police began deploying tear gas canisters in the area of 10th and L streets, after declaring the remaining protest group an unlawful assembly and ordering them to disperse. Police fired bursts of rubber bullets at protesters refusing to leave.
State government offices closed Monday
Authorities, businesses and offices are bracing for yet another day of possible chaos. State government offices in downtown areas of cities across California, including Sacramento, will be closed Monday due to ongoing protests, according to a Government Operations Agency spokeswoman.
“All state agencies and departments were given this direction by the California Department of Human Resources,” agency spokeswoman Amy Palmer wrote in a Sunday night email.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 8:36 AM.
