INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indianapolis’ mayor extended an overnight curfew into a third night Tuesday following a weekend of sometimes violent protests over the killing of George Floyd who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck.
Mayor Joe Hogsett’s office said officers would continue to use an “education first” approach before arresting people who violate the curfew, which runs from 9 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
During the curfew, residents cannot travel on public streets or be out in public unless they are traveling directly to or from work, their jobs involve travel, are seeking medical care or are fleeing danger.
“We continue to reevaluate how best to ensure the peaceful exercise of constitutional rights in our city,” Hogsett said in a statement that thanked residents who abide by the curfew and law enforcement officers “who help keep our community safe.”
Protests that roiled American cities filled downtown Indianapolis with protesters who decried Floyd’s death after a white Minneapolis officer kept his knee on the handcuffed black man’s neck, even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The peaceful protests in Indianapolis over Floyd’s death and police treatment of African Americans were followed by violence during which dozens of windows on downtown businesses were smashed and fires were set.
During Monday night’s curfew, a crowd of protesters moved from downtown Indianapolis to the governor’s residence on the city’s north side, where they were met by police and ordered to disperse. At one point, officers agreed to walk with protesters back toward downtown. Hogsett said that showed peaceful protesters and officers “came together to take a small step forward.”
Indiana State Police have deployed hundreds of state troopers to Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Evansville, Hobart and other cities “to help them with civil unrest,” Doug Carter, the agency’s superintendent, said Monday.
On Tuesday afternoon, rumors of a protest planned in Fort Wayne, Indiana’s second-largest city, led the police department to block entrances to a shopping mall, while businesses there closed early. Jefferson Pointe mall management warned tenants Monday night about a possible protest at the property. No protest had occurred by mid-afternoon Tuesday.
Overnight Monday, police in Terre Haute arrested eight people amid a protest in the western Indiana city. Seven people were arrested on charges of obstruction of traffic, while an 18-year-old man faces a battery charge after he allegedly threw a water bottle that struck a woman during a Monday evening protest near the Vigo County Courthouse, the Tribune-Star reported.
In the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, approximately 300 protesters marched peacefully around the Arts and Design District and the Monon Trail for three hours until 8 p.m. Monday, city officials said.
In Crown Point in northwest Indiana, a Black Lives Matter protest on Monday brought more than 30 people to the downtown square shouting “no justice, no peace,” and “George Floyd.” They held “I can’t breathe” signs and lay down on the sidewalk outside the old Lake County Courthouse. Mayor David Uran watched and spoke to the protesters, praising their peaceful demeanor, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.
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