Sacramento marchers ignore curfew for third night, mayor and police chief take a knee
The city of Sacramento will be under curfew through the end of this weekend, after last weekend brought chaos, property damage and vandalism following largely peaceful protest demonstrations during the daytime.
Protest demonstrations have continued for days in cities nationwide following the Memorial Day police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Marches, rallies and other gatherings have centered on systemic racial justice and police reform, particularly in terms of use-of-force protocol.
Sacramento has been under a nightly citywide curfew, in place 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., since Monday after a weekend that saw an estimated $10 million in property damage downtown. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday deployed 500 National Guard troops to California’s capital city to protect infrastructure, and they have remained in town despite little reported violence and property damage Monday or Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, a protest got underway at the Capitol, despite triple-digit heat, on the sixth straight day of protests in Sacramento over the Floyd killing. It went past the 8 p.m. curfew.
Here the latest on what’s happening Wednesday.
8:54 p.m.: Protesters keep vigil at Capitol past curfew
More than 200 demonstrators massed in front of the east steps of the Capitol, nearly an hour past a city-imposed curfew. It was the third night that protesters continued in defiance of the order.
The crowd, which marched from Cesar E. Chavez Plaza, alternately chanted and held moments of silence. Twice they took a knee in unison to show solidarity with victims of police brutality.
Dozens of California Highway Patrol officers stood impassively on the Capitol steps in riot gear.
8:01 p.m.: Curfew arrives, with protesters in the streets
As the city’s curfew arrived, several hundred protesters concluded a rally at Cesar Chavez Plaza, but instead of going home, many marched to the Capitol, site of a protest earlier in the evening.
It marked the third straight night that demonstrators marched past curfew time.
At one point the group marched past two National Guard Humvees, part of the contingent dispatched to Sacramento after two nights of vandalism.
A total of 68 people have been arrested for violating Monday and Tuesday’s curfews.
6:50 p.m.: Protesters chant at Capitol, ask CHP officers to take a knee
As the temperature hit 100 degrees for the first time since the protests began, as many as 300 protesters gathered on the east side of the Capitol.
They chanted, held moments of silence and, as they have the past two evenings, made unsuccessful appeals to the California Highway Patrol officers guarding the building to take a knee in solidarity.
The group eventually returned to Cesar E. Chavez Plaza, where the day’s demonstration’s began more than three hours earlier and hundreds were still listening to speeches, poetry and music from the stage at the north end of the park.
5:38 p.m. West Sacramento lifts curfew
West Sacramento is lifting its curfew for the time being.
The city announced Wednesday that its director of emergency services decided to pull the curfew, effective Wednesday evening. The curfew had gone into effect Monday at 8 p.m. and ran until 5 a.m.
The expects to revive the curfew Friday night, but with a narrower time frame. The new curfew will begin at 10 p.m. and run through 4 a.m. The curfew is expected to be ended Monday morning.
4:35 p.m.: Mayor Steinberg and Stevante Clark tour downtown together
Mayor Darrell Steinberg came to Cesar E. Chavez Plaza to pay his respects at a shrine to victims of police brutality. He wound up getting an earful.
Steinberg, accompanied by activist Stevante Clark, was scolded by a succession of speakers at an event attended by about 200 people. In particular they were incensed about protesters badly injured by rubber bullets fired by police.
“Why do you let police shoot children in the head and not say s---?” said Adam Jordan of Anti Police-Terror Sacramento, the organizer of the event. “When you’re out here with the people, you’ve got to expect chastisement.”
Another man shouted from the crowd: “Why did you bring the Army” in a reference to the introduction of National Guard troops on the street. The mayor stood silently and listened without responding, before leaving several minutes later.
Just 15 minutes earlier he and Clark, at times joking and at times serious, were touring stores that had been vandalized in two nights of violence.
3:25 p.m.: Most people arrested for property destruction were locals, not out-of-towners
The people breaking windows and ransacking local stores after dark were outsiders. That much protest leaders and politicians agreed on.
Arrest statistics show it wasn’t so. Police logs show all but one of the 32 suspects arrested on suspicion of looting, burglary and/or vandalism from Saturday through Monday were Sacramento County residents.
Twenty-four of those 32 gave addresses from the city of Sacramento; seven resided elsewhere in the county, coming from Citrus Heights, North Highlands and Rancho Cordova; and the one remaining suspect is from Rocklin in Placer County. A few more people from outside the area were cited with more protest-specific offenses such as failure to disperse, resisting arrest and curfew violation.
Rally leaders such as Jamila Land blamed “outside agitators” for the destruction Saturday night, and Mayor Darrell Steinberg and city councilman Jeff Harris said they had heard similarly.
11 a.m.: Curfew extended, mayor and police chief kneel in Oak Park
Sacramento’s citywide curfew will be extended through the weekend, Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the city manager’s office announced Wednesday morning. Steinberg added that the National Guard will also stay deployed in the capital city a few more days, “to protect everybody’s safety.”
Steinberg said the city is not doing this “casually” and only wants the curfew in place as long as is necessary, but that Sacramento can “start fresh” next week.
City police say they arrested 48 for curfew violations Monday night and 20 Tuesday.
Steinberg and Police Chief Daniel Hahn met with community members around 11 a.m. outside of Oak Park Community Center, traveling four blocks from the center to Shiloh Baptist Church on 9th Avenue.
Hahn and Steinberg, both wearing masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, took a knee as dozens of community members around them did the same.
Evening march planned from Capitol to Chavez park
Another night of protest is currently planned to run from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., with a march starting outside the Capitol building and continuing to Cesar E. Chavez Plaza, Anti Police-Terror Project organizer Jae Montgomery says.
Similar events Monday and Tuesday brought hundreds of protesters downtown, with most remaining for roughly an hour after the end of the 8 p.m. curfew, peacefully defying it as law enforcement did not start detaining or arresting curfew violators until after 9 p.m.
Activist group calls for artists, denounces mayor for ‘photo opp’
The Anti Police-Terror Group has called for artists to gather at Chavez park starting at 3 p.m.
“If you’re an artist, DIY’er, singer, rapper, poet, painter, sculptor or creator of any kind would you be willing to share your gifts with the people?” the announcement read.
The event will be similar to other demonstrations held at the plaza over the past week, organizers say.
Morning Star, the chair of the group’s healing justice committee, said the event is designed in part to bolster the plaza’s makeshift shrine to George Floyd and other victims of police violence. People will be asked to bring flowers, candles and photos, she said.
“The altar has taken a hit,” she said. Asked to explain, she said she was troubled that Steinberg showed up at the shrine Monday, placed a bouquet of flowers next to it, said a prayer for Floyd and took a knee. Star said she felt Steinberg was “using it as a photo opp.” The mayor posted a photo and video of the gesture to his Twitter page.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 12:03 PM.
