A visibly exhausted Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms established a curfew for Atlanta one day after violent protests and looting erupted in the city.
Bottoms put the measures in place after protesters vandalized several buildings in downtown Atlanta, including CNN Center, where the restaurant McCormicks & Schmicks is located.
Protesters gathered downtown to draw attention to the violent death of George Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. The incident was caught on camera and has ignited protests throughout the nation.
In Atlanta, a protest that was advertised as a peaceful movement that would observe social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic turned chaotic as night fell.
What Are The Atlanta Curfew Hours?
The mayor of Atlanta signed an Executive Order for a citywide curfew from 9 p.m. to sunrise the next morning.
A couple of demonstrators jumped on a police car and as officers pulled away, the vehicle was set afire and engulfed in flames moments later.
In one tense moment, an officer was seen shoving a bike onto a woman, which was quickly exposed by the crowd.
In a plea for calm, Bottoms evoked billionaire and CNN founder Ted Turner to ask protesters to go home.
“You’re not honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. You’re not protesting anything with bricks in your hand breaking windows in this city,” Bottoms said.
She also brought out rapper T.I. and Killer Mike, who both told protesters to keep the peace and resist the urge to turn violent.
“If you sit in your homes tonight instead of burning your homes to the ground, you will have time to properly plot, plan, strategize, organize znd mobilize in an effective way.”
But after those speeches, small fires broke out across the street from CNN Center at Centennial Olympic Park.
As news cameras kept pace with the demonstrators, the crowds started to die down. SWAT team police began to mobilize as well to move people back toward the park.
But unbeknownst to the authorities, the protesters began to make their way to Buckhead, the richest area of the city. They would descend on the Lenox Square area, choosing to break into Phipps Plaza across the street.
Social media video showed people running up to the glass doors, looking to breach them.
Protesters also showed up in the Lindbergh area, vandalizing the Target there and looting items from the store.
Meanwhile, in Phipps Plaza, looters commandeered a vehicle inside the mall and were able to break into several upscale stores, including Gucci and Dior.
As a result, Bottoms instituted a curfew, saying Saturday afternoon that the protests — which she knows quite a lot about as a native Atlantan — were different this time around.
“When I saw the people out today cleaning up our city and our crew were out there, that felt like Atlanta to me,” she said. “This shouldn’t have been about police cars burning… this is about lives being lost.”
“What it felt like to me today was we are the city that cities across this country only wish that they could be, which is why last night I said we are better than this as a city and we’re better than this as a country,” she said.
What started out as a peaceful demonstration, quickly turned into mayhem and unnecessary destruction, and ultimately an assault on businesses that are already struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bottoms remarked.
“This was a highly calculated terrorist organization,” Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields pointedly said, noting that many of the protesters were out-of-towners.
In Gwinnett County at Sugar Mills Mall, throngs of protesters emerged as authorities met them with a show of force on a beautiful Saturday.
Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp ordered 1,500 National Guard troops to protect the city’s structures and monuments as tensions continued to rise for a second night.
Late Saturday disturbing video emerged from downtown Atlanta, which saw officers bust the windows out of a vehicle, pulled the passenger out and tase the driver.
The occupants of the vehicle were later identified as a Spelman and Morehouse student.
On Sunday, demonstrators took to the streets for a third straight day after more damage to buildings the night before.
On Sunday, May 31, Bottom announced that the officers involved in the tasing of a Spelman and Morehouse student were fired from the force.
Hours later, one of the officers involved emerged on social media, explaining how he actually showed “compassion” for the driver, who he said he helped to safety.
The officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes is at this moment facing third-degree murder charges.
Protesters and many people around the nation are agitating for the other three officers to be charged in Floyd’s death as well.
Atlantafi.com is bringing you the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, which has the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta under a state of emergency. More definitive advice on health, please visit CDC.gov. Here are some helpful links: