Curfews in Effect in Multiple Cities as Violence, Looting Continues Alongside Peaceful Protests

Police take back the streets at around midnight after firing copious amounts of tear gas to disperse protesters and rioters outside the Minneapolis Police 5th Precinct during the fourth night of protests and violence following the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Curfews are in effect or imminent in more than a dozen U.S. cities facing rising unrest following the death of George Floyd.

The start times Saturday evening range from 6 p.m. in parts of South Carolina to 10 p.m. around Ohio. People are being told to get off the streets beginning at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. in Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

A curfew is in effect for a second night in and around Minneapolis from 8 p.m. onwards.

Emergency alert sent to phones in Minneapolis announcing an enforceable curfew on May 30, 2020. (The Epoch Times)

Floyd died earlier this week in Minneapolis while being held under arrest by police for alleged fraud.

Protests over the arrest erupted after footage emerged of an officer pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes.

Preliminary results from an autopsy have since suggested that Floyd died from a combination of heart disease and “potential intoxicants in his system” that were aggravated by the restraint placed on him by officers. Law enforcement officials nationwide have condemned Chauvin’s actions.

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• Autopsy Shows George Floyd Did Not Die of Traumatic Asphyxiation or Strangulation

Floyd’s family have denounced the preliminary autopsy report, with family attorney Ben Crump saying, “The family does not trust anything coming from the Minneapolis Police Department. How can they?” They are demanding that an independent autopsy be performed.

Thousands ignored the Friday night curfew, but peaceful protests gave way to violence late into the night.

In Miami, an initially peaceful protest turned violent due to a small subgroup of demonstrators who set fire to police cars.

Witnesses to the clash Saturday say officers responded with tear gas and fireworks to disperse the crowd. The mayor has declared a 10 p.m. curfew.

At one point, Interstate 95 was shut down as protesters stood on the busy highway. Police also used bicycles to push back an increasingly rowdy crowd throwing rocks.

Elsewhere in Florida, protesters in Tampa smashed store windows and set a gas station ablaze Saturday night after a peaceful demonstration during the day. Some broke into AT&T and Gold N Diamond stores.

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced an overnight curfew in the city running from 9 p.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday, and she says police will crack down on any violence.

Lightfoot said that the peaceful protesting over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has “devolved into criminal conduct.”

She says police will be aggressive with arrests for anyone caught damaging property.

“We can have zero tolerance for people who came prepared for a fight and tried to initiate and provoke our police department,” she said.

Attorney General William Barr said on Saturday that the violence seen in protests nationwide appear to have been “planned, organized, and driven” by groups of outside radicals and agitators who are exploiting the situation in order to achieve “their own separate and violent agenda.”

Epoch Times reporters Janita Kan and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.