Denver Mayor Michael Hancock imposed a curfew Saturday and Gov. Jared Polis called in the Colorado National Guard as the city attempted to restore order on the third day of George Floyd protests here and across the country.
The curfew, which applies to all of Denver, began at 8 p.m. Saturday and lifts at 5 Sunday morning. The curfew will be repeated Sunday night.
“Once 8 p.m. hits, our message is very simple: Go home,” Hancock said in a news conference Saturday as the third day of protests unfolded nearby.
Protester Ciera Murphy, a Denver resident, said she would listen. She’s worried “about the people and what will happen to them” if they remain, including if they’ll get arrested or hurt, she said.
Many protesters remained near the Capitol as 8 p.m. arrived, and they cheered and blew a horn. A line of police advanced down Lincoln Street just afterward, but hundreds of protesters were still out well after 9 p.m. An hour later, they were largely gone.
8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/oMLMJ0IKu4
— Saja Hindi (@BySajaHindi) May 31, 2020
Tevone Hall said he was staying out past curfew because “the cops are still killing us and we’re finally doing something about it. … Sometimes it has to be violent before it gets peaceful.”
Saturday brought the biggest crowd yet — believed to number in the thousands — and conflicts started much earlier, with a bottle thrown at an officer and the first tear gas deployed by police before 4 p.m.
Hancock said he spent all night and Saturday morning speaking with mayors from cities around the United States about how to deal with the protests over Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, which has reignited tensions regarding police use of force in minority communities.
The nationwide protests have come as people were slowly returning to work and other activities after the global COVID-19 pandemic upended American life. Cities such as Denver have had to quickly shift focus from battling the coronavirus to keeping order amid mass protests.
Denver City Attorney Kristin Bronson said the curfew was Denver’s first in recent memory, while Hancock called the steps a last resort but ones he felt he had no choice but to invoke.
“This is not acceptable in our city,” the mayor said.
Nineteen people were arrested Friday, following 13 arrests on Thursday, for acts involving arson, burglary, criminal mischief and weapons charges, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said. Police found three people with assault rifles Friday, he said.
“Three assault rifles brought to what supposed to be honoring the loss of life,” he said. “There’s no place for that in the type of positive change we need in our community.”
The curfew will be punishable by a $999 fine and up to 300 days in jail, Bronson said. There are a number of people who are exempt from the order, including emergency and law enforcement personnel, news media, and those going to and from work.
Some protesters have alleged that officers are indiscriminately firing rounds at people who are walking around peacefully, and members of the media have also been hit while reporting on the conflict. Pazen ardently defended his department’s response to the protesters, saying Saturday that officers are using nonlethal force — such as tear gas and pepper rounds — to avoid more dangerous physical conflicts.
The police chief, mayor and city attorney all emphasized the difference between the peaceful protesters marching, chanting and waving signs during the day, and those who have come with baseball bats, crow bars and assault rifles in the evenings.
“We will not allow these agitators to take over the message, to hijack the meaning and cause and intent of what we need to do together to keep this community and country safe,” Pazen said.
Murphy Robinson, Denver’s new public safety director, said the city will hold a virtual protest over Zoom on Saturday night so people can still speak their mind and engage on the topics of racial injustice.
“To my fellow young people, I’m calling on you to help stop the violence,” Robinson said. “As we take over leadership in this country, we cannot repeat the mistakes of previous generations. Let us be the generation that comes together and removes the needles of bigotry and racism. We must have a nonviolent approach that includes partnership with civil activism.”