After 2 days of riots, Raleigh protesters disperse peacefully as Raleigh curfew begins
The streets of downtown Raleigh stood empty at 9 p.m. Monday, an hour past the start of a citywide curfew imposed to deter a third night of rioting and vandalism.
Protesters have gathered night after night in Raleigh and cities across the county to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pushed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes.
Floyd’s death came on the heels of several other high-profile police killings, and many of the protests have been marked by police use of tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets, injuring both protesters and journalists, as well as looting that has left swathes of cities, including Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street, boarded up as if for a hurricane.
The crowd in Raleigh on Monday started out at several hundred people. They gathered at the N.C. State Bell Tower about 5 p.m. and marched, chanting and playing drums, down Hillsborough Street toward downtown, where National Guard troops and military vehicles were stationed.
They convened again at the capitol building, where they chanted not just Floyd’s name, but also Breonna Taylor, the name of an African-American emergency room technician who was shot eight times by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in March.
As the 8 p.m. curfew approached, police began demanding that protesters leave.
“You are ordered to disperse immediately and return to your homes,” a police vehicle blared. “Failure to comply will result in your arrest. “
Most of the protesters departed, some on bikes and skateboards. A couple dozen remained at the capitol building, kneeling with their hands up. One man paced in front of officers wearing neon vests and guardsmen in fatigues.
But shortly after 9 p.m., even they were gone, leaving only some water bottles behind.
The curfew, which applies to the entire city, will run from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily until it is rescinded. It requires people to stay home except for medical emergencies and a few other exempt employees.
“My hope is that this will allow our community to pause, collect ourselves, begin to repair the damage and turn our focus to the important work of finding connection and commonality,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said in a news release announcing the curfew. “There are so many people hurting throughout this city, and we need to come together peacefully and as one community.”
“There is truth in the call for justice,” Baldwin said in the release. “For those who have protested peacefully, your voices are being heard and will always be welcome. The call for change can’t be answered, however, if we continue to allow destruction of our property and attacks on our small businesses that have already been hurt by this as well as the impacts of COVID-19.”
Police arrested dozens of people for looting, resisting arrest and failing to disperse on Saturday and Sunday nights. Some of the damage and arrests were outside of downtown, at Triangle Town Center and the North Hills mall area.
‘Know that I’m with you’
Monday’s protest was orderly by comparison, with designated chant leaders and medical personnel in orange vests. Police blocked off traffic as the crowd, gaining in number, marched toward downtown.
Passing drivers honked as the protesters chanted “Black lives matter!” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
The group stayed on the sidewalk, growing in number along the way.
“I want it to remain peaceful,” Brian Oatman, an organizer, told The News & Observer after speaking to the crowd. “I think that’s the right thing to do, so we can move past this.”
On the Senate floor around 6:15 p.m., state Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed asked to adjourn the day’s session in memory of Floyd.
He recalled his father explaining to him what happened to Rodney King, a black man savagely beaten by Los Angeles police in 1991. Now, Mohammed said, he has to explain Floyd’s death to his own son.
“To the black community,” Mohammed said, “know that I’m with you.”
Half an hour after the Senate adjourned, the Legislative Building was quiet, save for helicopters hovering overhead. General Assembly police lined the doors.
Gov. Roy Cooper passed by protesters as he walked toward the gates of the governor’s mansion around 7:15 p.m. The crowd chanted, “March with us!” Cooper waved, saying “thank you” to protesters while his mask hung from one ear.
His spokeswoman Dory MacMillan said in an interview with The N&O that, “Governor Cooper has spoken with mayors across North Carolina and fulfilled requests for state support, including help from the State Highway Patrol, SBI, ALE, and National Guard.
“While we must ensure the important call for change isn’t lost amidst escalating tensions, violence and destruction are unacceptable and must stop,” she said.
About 450 guardsmen had deployed, as of Sunday, MacMillan said.
Who is exempt from Raleigh’s curfew?
Raleigh’s declaration comes after Fayetteville declared a curfew Sunday in response to the mayhem that broke out after a Saturday night protest.
In Greensboro, Mayor Nancy Vaughan issued a citywide curfew Monday that was to begin at 8 p.m. and extend through 6 a.m. Tuesday.
The following employees are exempt from Raleigh’s curfew, according to the city’s updated state of emergency:
▪ “Law enforcement officers, firefighters and “other public employees in the performance of their job duties.”
▪ “Doctors, nurses, employees of hospitals and other medical facilities.
▪ “On-duty military personnel
▪ “On-duty employees of public utilities, public transportation and media organizations.”
A violation of the curfew is a Class 2 misdemeanor, which can carry a maximum of 60 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000.
Residents who have questions about the City of Raleigh curfew can call a city hotline at 919-996-2200.
The curfew declaration and the city’s state of emergency order can be found at raleighnc.gov.
Mayors of Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina and Garner are not planning curfews but say they are monitoring what happens.
“I’m hoping that the illegal action will not spill over,” Garner Mayor Ken Marshburn said in an interview Monday.
Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said the police department is “utilizing all of our intelligence and listening capabilities to continually assess threat levels in and against our community.”
Apex Mayor Jacques Gilbert, a retired police captain, said municipal leaders need to listen to the protesters’ concerns.
“I’m hearing what people are saying about the changes that are necessary,” Gilbert said in an interview Monday. “I want that to be understood. I do believe that the accountability in police service and the integrity of the criminal justice system must remain a top priority in every community.”
Protesters split on whether to obey the curfew
Some protesters who participated in the early march declared their intention to head home before 8 p.m.
“I’ve been on the front lines the two days, so I’m going to stay low,” Kelvin Evans said. “They have real guns out here, the National Guard.”
Libby Styron and Jasmin Scott, of Raleigh, said they intended to stay out to show they weren’t scared. “To show that we are going to stay here, that we are going to risk it all to change things,” Scott said.
Styron said he is afraid every time he gets pulled over, from the time lights start showing behind him to when the officer shines the light into the car.
These protests are important, Scott said, because black Americans face disproportionate risks every day, in every facet of society, not just with law enforcement.
Brandon Bradshaw, 25, also stayed at the protest past the curfew.
“This is still wrong,” Bradshaw said. “People still have a voice.”
He said he doesn’t get aggressive with police, throw things at officers or vandalize, and “that’s not what we’re here for.”
He said even staying out until 8:01 or 8:15 proves a point.
“It’s good to see us united like this,” Bradshaw said. “Enough is enough. It’s time for a change. The world has spoken.”
Moore, Stein speak out
Tim Moore, the N.C. House speaker, has a high-rise apartment in downtown Raleigh and said Monday that he had witnessed some of the rioting, which he called “utter lawlessness.”
In a press conference, Moore called on Cooper to take more decisive action and said Baldwin was a day late in imposing a curfew. Legitimate protests over Floyd’s death were “hijacked” by rioters and looters, he said.
“There are a lot of people who have seen their livelihoods destroyed,” Moore said. “I mean, look, they were already dealing with COVID-19. ... Think about people who poured their life savings into business. They already have the situation with the virus where they can’t open. Now they have just utter lawlessness.
Moore said Cooper needs to be clear “that we are not going to tolerate it.”
Josh Stein, North Carolina’s attorney general, also spoke out Monday.
Protesters “are acting from a deep pain from the devaluation of their lives and a sincere commitment to right these wrongs,” Stein said in a statement. “Others are exploiting these moments for their own agenda, forcing many already struggling small businesses to bear the cost. That is unacceptable and wrongdoers should be held accountable, but it will not distract from the work we have to do to heal our nation.”
Stein said his office is working to identify ways to improve policing. “As a prosecutor, I strongly believe that anyone who murders someone or is complicit in murder should be charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he wrote.
Durham groups display solidarity
In Durham, about 60 protesters blocked the Durham Freeway at Alston Avenue on Monday afternoon.
Police redirected traffic and made no arrests during the protest, which ended when the demonstrators were promised a summit Friday with Sheriff Clarence Birkhead and Police Chief C.J. Davis to talk about overpolicing and poverty in the black community.
Meanwhile, various Durham organizations gathered downtown Monday to stand in solidarity with African Americans who have been killed by police across the nation and to demand accountability for Durham systems and institutions.
County Commissioner Brenda Howerton, whose son was killed by a police officer in the 1990s in Greensboro, said this isn’t an easy conversation for her.
“I am here to stand for our black boys and our black men, who are being murdered, that they don’t have a right to breathe,” she said.
The groups also criticized how the Durham County commissioners have responded to a Feb. 11 letter from Durham County Manager Wendell Davis to Commissioner Heidi Carter accusing her of racism.
Carter called the accusation “baseless” and questioned Davis’ raising it three weeks before the primary election, which she eventually won. The commissioners recently announced a plan to hire an attorney to investigate the claims in the letter as well as Davis’ actions.
“We have to ask, what are their true motives to try to remove a man that has garnered national accolades while serving us as our county manager, “ said Omar Beasley, chair of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.
The committee has sent a letter to Stein asking him to investigate the situation, Beasley said.
A message sung with song
Dozens of people gathered on the steps of the Legislative Office Building on Monday afternoon across the street from the Legislative Building, which was one of the stops of Sunday night’s protests.
It’s a few blocks from the Executive Mansion, where metal barriers lined the sidewalk in front of the governor’s residence. Streets around the government buildings remained open Monday afternoon, although Fayetteville Street on the other side of the Capitol grounds was blocked off by city barriers.
“This is how we fight our battles,” they sang about peace and prayer, palms up in praise, while a man played an acoustic guitar.
Christopher List of Raleigh had his eyes closed, singing as the group sang, and prayed about the God of love, light and peace. List didn’t know who organized the event, having been invited by a friend.
“We’re not trying to focus on barriers as much as we are the spiritual sense of the tension in the air, all this frustration and anger,” List said with tears in his eyes.
Duke’s Coach K angry, frustrated, scared
Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski on Monday joined the voices of other sports and athletic leaders speaking out.
“I have been trying to find eloquent words to explain my thoughts regarding the recent acts of injustice in our country, but I cannot be eloquent about this,” Krzyzewski said in a statement released on Duke’s basketball Twitter account. “I am too emotional. I am angry! I am frustrated! I am disgusted and frankly, I am scared.
“No matter how much I love my current and former players and their families, I cannot feel the depth of what they are feeling right now. I have never experienced what it is like to be a black man in America.
“I want to help find the answers to these questions, but before we can get answers, we have to understand at a new level. And to understand, we must listen. Listen and not judge. We need to stand up for what is right, and we must no longer tolerate racism and social injustice in our country.”
Staff writers Jonas Pope IV, Aaron Sánchez-Guerra, Adam Wagner, Kate Murphy, Virginia Bridges, Will Doran, Zachery Eanes, Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan and Jordan Schrader contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 11:06 AM with the headline "After 2 days of riots, Raleigh protesters disperse peacefully as Raleigh curfew begins."
