9 minutes of silence at Capitol, then Sacramento protests end at Chavez Plaza after curfew
A four-hour peaceful protest Tuesday over the death of George Floyd has ended in downtown Sacramento about an hour after curfew.
Most of the group ended the day’s protests on the east side of the state Capitol after gathering at Cesar E. Chavez Plaza to demonstrate against police brutality, but some had already begun to go home as the clock struck 8 p.m. In the distance, a car parade around the building continued as Sacramento police officers began giving the order to disperse.
“We won’t be scared away, we won’t leave,” one organizer yelled to CHP officers lining the downtown landmark as a crowd behind her sat silently in defiance of the city’s, and now county’s, legal order. The group knelt before sitting quietly for nine minutes, roughly the same amount of time that a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd, who died on Memorial Day. That officer, one of four that detained the 46-year-old black man as he died, has been charged in Floyd’s death.
Protests have sparked nationwide for eight days in response to Floyd’s death and for other incidents of recent alleged police brutality.
Monday night marked history in Sacramento, with demonstrations against police violence remaining peaceful amid the city’s first citywide curfew and the presence of hundreds of National Guard troops.
On Monday, the National Guard and local law enforcement had stayed on the sidelines for close to two hours after the 8 p.m. curfew that Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council approved hours earlier, watching as some 700 protesters led by activist Stevante Clark continued to peacefully defy the orders with a march from Chavez park to the District Attorney’s Office, then back to the park.
Some stragglers who remained in the area were detained after about 9:30 p.m. for violating the curfew order. Sacramento Bee reporters at the scene witnessed roughly 25 people detained, and Sacramento Police Department spokesman Officer Karl Chan said Tuesday morning that at least 48 had been arrested for staying out past the curfew, which runs 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly until it is rescinded.
One person was arrested Monday night for vandalism, Chan said, compared with 22 Sunday.
Chan added one police car had its window smashed and there were a few small instances of vandalism, but Monday night went well.
In Sacramento, largely peaceful protest demonstrations, rallies and marches took place during the daytime Saturday and Sunday, but were followed by burglary and vandalism followed each night. 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.
Local activists have attributed violence and destruction to “outside agitators,” with City Councilman Jeff Harris saying officials had “intel” suggesting the more chaotic actions were the work of an “organized criminal element,” mostly separate from the main protest group but with some possible overlap.
The Downtown Sacramento Partnership estimated local businesses suffered a total of around $10 million in damage over the weekend, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to send in 500 California National Guard members, who were seen stationed with heavily armored vehicles near places like Golden 1 Center and the downtown courthouse.
Here is more of what has happened Tuesday in California’s capital.
9:45 p.m.: Sacramento police begin arresting those out past curfew
Sacramento Police Department officers detained at least seven people at 14th and I streets who appeared to be leaving the protest.
A group of several dozen people were walking away from Cesar E. Chavez Plaza when a squad car and white van pulled up, causing the protesters to scatter. A young man who was detained shouted “call my mom!” to the people with whom he had been. When a woman did so, she was also taken into police custody.
A group of volunteer medics shouted advice across the street to the protesters being detained, who shouted their birth dates and other personal information back. A car full of bystanders argued the legal basis of detaining the protesters, only to have police threaten to arrest them as well.
“Do not talk without a lawyer. Stay safe!” the medics yelled as the detainees sat on the curb.
9:15 p.m.: Protest ends, crowd disperses
After hours of marching, chanting and kneeling, Stevante Clark gave one more speech and a woman led the protesters in prayers. Then the group dispersed.
National Guard troops gathered in front of City Hall and repeatedly reminded the protesters of the city curfew over a loudspeaker, but did not confront the group gathered in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza. All freeway on- and off-ramps remained open, in contrast to the end of protests over the weekend. However, around 10 p.m., several lanes of southbound I-5 was blocked at 43rd Avenue for unknown police activity.
Anyone caught out after curfew risked arrest as the city attempted to crack down on the burglary and vandalism that ravaged downtown Sacramento on Saturday and Sunday.
9 p.m.: Two groups
The remaining protesters splintered into two groups, one of which knelt in the middle of Ninth and J streets and the other gathered nearby in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza.
The kneeling group chanted Floyd’s name as well as Breonna Taylor and Stephon Clark, other unarmed black people killed by police. Clark was shot in his grandparents’ Meadowview backyard while holding a cell phone in 2018, igniting protests throughout Sacramento and the rest of the country.
8:30 p.m.: Crowd on the move after minutes of silence
Sacramento Police officers sent announcements of the city curfew off loudspeakers on the boundaries of Capitol Park, shooing off all but about 100 protesters from around the state Capitol, including a vehicle parade of 40 to 50 vehicles that had driven around honking and cheering.
The remaining protesters stood in a quiet staredown with CHP officers surrounding the building, though they broke out into occasional chants of “George Floyd.” At least one protester threw a water bottle at the officers as well.
After several minutes of silence and asking CHP officers to “take a knee,” the crowd of about 100 began to march again, taking to L Street yelling “Hands up. Don’t shoot” and “George Floyd.” They then proceeded to kneel in the intersection of 10th and L streets before continuing to move.
Before they began walking, a mother and daughter said they’d stay with the protest even though it was past curfew.
“We don’t want get arrested,” said Barbara Matues, a retired Air Force servicemember living in Olivehurst.
Her daughter, Rosalina, a registered nurse from Sacramento, said “staying after curfew shows solidarity” because “it shows that everything is more serious.”
The crowd had decided to walk back to Cesar E. Chavez Plaza, where protests and vigils have emanated for two days.
7:50 p.m.: Stevante Clark speaks
Activist Stevante Clark once again held court. He led protesters in chants of Floyd’s and his brother Stephon’s name, and brought a black man and a white woman up to the stage to highlight the people at the center of movement and their allies rallying in support of them. He also urged organization in protesting.
“I want to be plotting, planning, strategizing, organizing. That right there is not plotting, planning, strategizing and organizing, and sometimes when you’re doing that you get hurt,” Clark said, gesturing to the broken windows around the plaza. “Passion with no direction is chaos.”
The night before, the National Guard and local law enforcement stayed on the sidelines for close to two hours after the 8 p.m. curfew that Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council approved hours earlier, watching as some 700 protesters led by Clark continued to peacefully defy the orders with a march from Chavez park to the District Attorney’s Office, then back to the park.
6:45 p.m.: Large protest gathers at Cesar Chavez Plaza, marches around Capitol
A group of at least 500 protesters gathered in Cesar E. Chavez Plaza as two different groups gathered to demonstrate against police brutality. A group of medical professionals, dressed in scrubs and white coats, started the night near the Capitol. Another group started at Chavez Park. The two joined near the Capitol and walked around the building before marching back to the park.
4:45 p.m.: County declares state of emergency, opening door for National Guard
National Guard troops already in Sacramento proper could be deployed to outlying regions after the Sacramento County executive Navdeep Gill declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon.
The declaration lets National Guard troops to assist with local law enforcement agencies throughout Sacramento County, and allows the county tap federal funding for law enforcement efforts related to protests over Floyd’s death.
Guard troops were stationed in downtown Sacramento near the Capitol and Downtown Commons on Monday night as well as the El Dorado Hills Town Center. There is no immediate plan for their deployment throughout the rest of Sacramento County.
Click here to read more about the county’s state of emergency declaration.
4:10 p.m.: Kings announcer Grant Napear resigns over ‘All Lives Matter’ controversy
Grant Napear, the TV voice of the Sacramento Kings since 1988, has stepped down from the team and radio station KHTK after a controversial response to the team’s former star DeMarcus Cousins on Twitter regarding the George Floyd protests.
After Cousins asked Napear’s opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement Sunday night, the announcer responded “Hey!!!! How are you? Thought you forgot about me. Haven’t heard from you in years. ALL LIVES MATTER...EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!”
Former King and Sacramento native Matt Barnes called Napear “a closet racists (sic)“ in response, and Chris Webber had his own reply punctuated with two clown emojis. Napear was then placed on administrative leave by the Kings and KHTK, where he hosted a show alongside Doug Christie.
Napear apologized in an interview with The Bee’s Marcos Breton on Monday morning, saying he was unaware of the loaded history behind “All Lives Matter” and “Black Lives Matter.” He resigned from the Kings on Tuesday afternoon, however, and KHTK parent company Bonneville International Corporation announced it would part ways with the longtime host as well.
Click here to read more on Napear’s exit.
3:35 p.m.: DA announces charges against alleged looters
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office will charge 11 of the 14 people arrested in connection with vandalism, burglary and other offenses related to the ransacking of area business over the weekend, according to a news release.
The suspects include an adult male charged with felony vandalism and rioting after allegedly spray-painting two patrol cars; a man charged with commercial burglary and looting after allegedly being found in the CVS store at 17th and K streets; and an adult male from Stockton charged with commercial burglary, looting and resisting arrest after allegedly being confronted in a Target store on Alta Arden Expressway and Fulton Avenue and fleeing on foot, dropping merchandise along the way.
A man from Clearlake, 100 miles northwest of Sacramento in Lake County, was charged with felony assault on an officer and rioting after allegedly throwing a large clay pot at police. The man was allegedly part of a group that had surrounded a woman in her car, slashing her tires and breaking her windows. When police tried to remove the woman from her car, several members of the group threw bricks, bottles and other objects at the officers.
Two women and one man were charged with commercial burglary and looting upon allegedly being found inside the BevMo at 17th and J streets. The women, one of whom was on probation, are suspected of fleeing the scene and were also charged with resisting arrest.
An air patrol vehicle allegedly saw two men and a woman burglarizing a mini-mart, and responding officers found items from the mini-mart and a shoe store — perhaps Kicx Unlimited — in their car. The three Rancho Cordova residents were charged with commercial burglary, looting and receiving stolen property.
A man on probation with numerous prior convictions was pulled over after allegedly fitting the description of someone who raided a Walgreens at the corner of Mack Road and Franklin Boulevard. He had prescription pills stolen from Walgreens, according the release, and was charged with looting and receiving stolen property.
“The Sacramento District Attorney’s Office zealously supports every citizen’s right to lawfully exercise their first amendment right to protest, particularly in these painful times,” the media release read. “At the same time, we will also zealously prosecute those who choose violence, looting or lawlessness over peaceful protest thereby creating a threat to public safety and the well-being of our community.”
1 p.m.: Newsom shows up to cleaning effort near Capitol
The governor stopped by the Stanley Mosk Courts Building west of the state Capitol around midday, donning a dark-colored face mask, button-up shirt, blue jeans and rolled-up sleeves.
Victor Flores, a recent high school graduate from San Jose, met Newsom and says he urged the governor to introduce financial literacy to classrooms.
“By educating ourselves about finance, we can bring money back to our communities,” Flores said. “He seemed to listen. He was onboard with what I was saying.”
Rallies underway in Folsom, Roseville
Demonstrations are ongoing midday Tuesday in suburban cities in the Sacramento area.
About 200 people are gathered for a rally at the Folsom Public Library, which sits next to city hall and the city’s police station, for a protest against the death of George Floyd, according to social media posts by the local Folsom Telegraph newspaper.
The Roseville Police Department tweeted around noon that a peaceful demonstration at the corner of Douglas Boulevard and Rocky Ridge Drive, scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., was not impacting traffic and that no illegal activity had been observed.
More boarded, but open, businesses outside downtown
Many businesses along the Florin Road closed early Monday amid reports that a significant demonstration was planned for the area.
Corey De Roo of the Florin Road Partnership said she believes the demonstration was scuttled because the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office and National Guard were present.
“Florin mall was almost completely boarded up,” she said.
Tuesday morning, most of the center was up and running, and fairly crowded.
De Roo said it wasn’t clear if the people planning the demonstration were protesters or “opportunists” looking to vandalize.
A few stores have been hit in the area; a Sheikh Shoes store on Stockton “is gutted,” she said. The store was completely sealed off in plywood Tuesday but neighboring stores had their boarded-up doors open for business.
De Roo is convinced the precautions taken Monday evening were justified. “If nothing else, this was an excellent fire drill,” she said. “We are prepared to withstand another onslaught.”
9:15 a.m.: Mayor to recommend continuation of curfew
Steinberg says he will recommend that the city keep its 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in place tonight. The mayor also expects National Guard troops to stay in the city.
“It’s appropriate to be cautious,” he said. “It needs to be assessed day by day. It’s a day-to-day decision.”
The mayor said he was grateful Monday’s demonstrations remained peaceful, and credited Stevante Clark for doing an “incredible job” helping keep the peace.
Steinberg went out to an impromptu memorial for George Floyd on Monday, laid flowers, took a knee and said a prayer – then posted video of the gesture to Twitter on Tuesday. Though he has led the City Council in recommending the historic curfew, Steinberg said he has worked to internalize for himself the experience blacks and others have had in this country, and in Sacramento.
9 a.m.: Target on Broadway reopens
The Target store at Broadway and Riverside Boulevard was back open Tuesday morning, closed the previous day.
About 20 guests waited in a socially distant line as employees were propping open boarded up doors. The retailer’s automatic sliding doors were broken over the weekend.
Target, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, announced the closure of dozens of stores nationwide in response to damage and theft.
8:30 a.m.: Streets calm, National Guard still stationed near Capitol
Downtown Sacramento was quiet and full of plywood Tuesday morning.
Roy Gonzalez Jr. spent part of the morning taking vinyl sheeting down from the storefront window at Signs Now in the 1800 block of J Street. His dad, Roy Sr., said sheeting wouldn’t have protected the windows but was there “to keep people from seeing in.”
Roy Gonzalez Sr. attributed the peaceful night in part to the National Guard presence.
“Maybe the curfew helped … It looks like it’s going to start tapering off, hopefully,” he said.
Ault, of the downtown partnership, took a tour of businesses and said things looked “pretty good” Tuesday morning.
“There’s some random graffiti and tags on car windows, but nothing focused in a specific area,” he said It was kind of random throughout the district.There are a few broken windows but we’re not totally sure (when those happened) as it relates to timeline.”
His group now will reach out to businesses, many of them small, to see what the downtown partnership can do to help them clean up interior damage over the last few nights, and get their businesses back in order for reopening.
All state government offices are closed again Tuesday, as they were Monday, due to the recent damage.
Noah’s Bagels, at 19th and J in midtown, was open for business despite its boarded up storefront windows.
Customer Paul Denson shook his head in disbelief at the plywood but said of the lack of violence: “I’m assuming it’s because the National Guard came in.”
Members of the National Guard, rifles in hand but relaxed in stature, stood watch on 15th Street, across the east side of Capitol Park, and at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building, which was defaced with graffiti over the weekend. One of them agreed that things were quiet last night. About 20 California Highway Patrol officers were patrolling the Capitol Grounds shortly before 8:30 a.m., many with their riot helmets either in their hands or resting on the ground.
‘A much better night’: Protests stay peaceful, very little damage
Monday was a clear and drastic contrast from a weekend of unrest. Monday morning, dozens of volunteers brought brooms, buckets and garbage bins to help pick up shattered glass from storefronts along J and K streets. On Tuesday morning, there was no glass to pick up and the streets were quiet.
Sacramento leaders and downtown business owners woke up relieved Tuesday morning.
Michael Ault of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership reported his team is taking an inventory this morning, but early reports are that there was some graffiti on a few windows, but so far little else.
“It was significantly better than the previous couple of nights,” Ault said. “A much better night.”
Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen, who represents downtown and lives downtown, was pleased and, he said, grateful to the Monday night protest group and its leaders for conducting a calm and controlled street protest.
He and others point to the leadership of Stevante Clark, brother of Stephon Clark, who was killed two years ago by two Sacramento police officers in south Sacramento who mistakenly believed a cellphone in his hand was a gun. Clark led the protest of some 700, and although it continued past the 8 p.m. curfew, Clark and others kept the group under control, and advocated doing no harm to the city.
Hansen said some small groups broke off from the main protest group as the event wound down, but police were able to keep on top of those people.
“Ultimately, it was a quiet night. We are very grateful, grateful to the community,” Hansen said. “The most powerful thing about last night were the calls for peace. We saw Stevante Clark making sure the protest stayed focused on George Floyd and others.
“He made clear about not disrespecting the neighborhood.”
City police let people protest and march past curfew Monday because the event was largely peaceful.
“We were happy with that. Some people hung and around after, trying to take advantage of the situation,” said Chan, the Police Department spokesman. “The same tactics we’ve seen. Ultimately, compared to the other nights, there wasn’t much.”
The four dozen who were arrested were taken to a separate, undisclosed processing center and then released.
Hansen said he believes the imposition of a curfew helped.
“Our belief was it would help manage the situation better. It wasn’t going to be a cure-all, but it did allow the protest to be more focused. We were very cautious about not stopping the protest before it was done. Once Stevante told people to go home we gave people ample opportunity do that.”
Some activists oppose curfew, call it ‘oppressive’
Steinberg on Monday said he wanted to shut down the city before dark to limit the destruction experienced over the weekend. He acknowledged he didn’t know how effective the curfew would be, but said he wants to provide another tool to police.
Tanya Faison, the leader of Black Lives Matter Sacramento, said city officials need to focus on communication with protesters to learn why they’re marching in the streets.
“I think curfews are very oppressive,” Faison said Monday afternoon. “If they need to respond to what’s going on, they need to do it with resolution.”
Sonia Lewis, of the Liberation For Black Sacramento, said she was “insulted” after learning of the city’s curfew, which she said shows the city’s lack of compassion.
She said the city’s curfew is only daring protesters to violate it, “a notion that people are going to push back on.” She said law enforcement is agitating protesters on the street, which has resulted in police firing rubber bullets and tear gas at people under the cover of darkness.
Across the river, the city of West Sacramento also set an 8 p.m. curfew beginning Monday to curb vandalism.
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 8:26 AM.
