No arrests following peaceful Wednesday night protests, Sacramento police say
City police say they made no such arrests for vandalism, looting or curfew violations after a protest wrapped up around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday in Sacramento. The relatively quiet night comes after a chaotic weekend that saw millions of dollars of property damage and vandalism in Sacramento, followed by a few dozen arrests the following two days for violation of a citywide curfew in place since Monday night.
Demonstrators gathered downtown for a third straight night and stayed out more than an hour past the 8 p.m. curfew approved by Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council on Monday.
A crowd of about 200 massed in front of the east steps of the Capitol, marching there once again from Cesar E. Chavez Plaza, for a vigil that lasted through about 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Sacramento Police Department spokesman Officer Karl Chan said the protest dispersed on its own, peacefully, at around 9:30 p.m.
“Last night was a good night,” Chan said Thursday morning. “We had no arrests and no reported acts of looting or vandalism.”
Protests have continued nationwide in response to the Memorial Day police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. For more than a week, demonstrations and vigils have popped up in major cities in the U.S. and some overseas, with protesters calling out racial injustice and urging police reform.
The former Minneapolis police officer seen on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes was charged with third-degree murder last week. On Wednesday, prosecutors upgraded that charge to second-degree murder, and three other former officers who responded to the scene were taken into custody on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Steinberg said Wednesday that Sacramento will extend the 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. through the weekend as a precaution and to “start fresh” next week. Some other California cities, including San Francisco, have lifted their curfews .
A deployment of 500 National Guard troops has been in the capital since Monday, and will stay around “a few more days,” Steinberg said Wednesday.
Officials point out that more peaceful Sacramentans are coming out, and protest leaders have taken a stronger lead in insisting there be no destruction of their city.
Among some of these new faces at rallies was Chandra Reed, 43, who attended one in Oak Park on Wednesday.
She has been watching the Sacramento protests online and was frightened by the violence she saw at the end of the first three nights, Friday through Sunday, but was heartened by the peaceful protesters who appeared to care for their community as well as the cause of civil justice.
“I said I’ve got to be part of something positive,” said Reed, a member of Bayside Church in Sacramento. “I just needed to be somewhere safe and positive. I’ve been a little nerve-wracked, a little afraid to go and do something. So, to show love and respect and do it in a positive manner for change, I needed to be here, I must be here today.”
On Sunday, which appeared to be the most destructive night in California’s capital, Sacramento Bee reporters observed about 200 people break off from the main group of 1,000 protesting peacefully, with people in the smaller of the two groups going on to smash storefront and car windows, steal items and start fires.
The Downtown Sacramento Partnership, surveying the damage Monday morning, estimated $10 million in property damage over the weekend, with about 130 businesses having doors or windows broken and roughly 300 tagged with graffiti.
The Sacramento Police Department reported seven arrests for burglary Saturday and 22 for charges related to looting Sunday, Chan said. Eleven were arrested Saturday night for failure to disperse after the assembly was declared unlawful, and three such arrests were made Sunday by the Police Department.
City police reported 48 arrests for curfew violation Monday night and 20 on Tuesday. Each night of those two nights, law enforcement allowed the protest to continue without intervention for about an hour to 90 minutes after curfew because it was proceeding peacefully. Police then detained, cited and released stragglers who lingered in the area after the main crowds had dispersed.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 8:14 AM.
