The city and county of Los Angeles has canceled the curfews both had been in place over the past several nights amid the protests over George Floyd’s death. Other local cities that had imposed lockdowns since the weekend, including Santa Monica and Culver City, also have canceled their curfews.
As of 11:45 a.m., Beverly Hills had yet to announce a curfew for Thursday.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that the curfews there would end after Wednesday night, and he made it official today. “I have lifted the curfew in the City of Los Angeles,” he tweeted. “We remain strongly committed to protecting the right of Angelenos to make their voices heard and ensuring the safety of our community.”
About an hour earlier, Los Angeles County had tweeted that it “does not plan to issue a countywide curfew order tonight.”
The news comes a day after city officials said they will cut $100 million-$150 million from the Los Angeles Police Department’s budget next year and reinvest thosae funds in communities of color.
The brace of local lockdowns stretching nearly a week were in response to vandalism and looting around the county and the country. The Westside cities of Beverly Hills and Santa Monica clamped down after a wild weekend of protests and looting, with Rodeo Drive being targeted Saturday and the Santa Monica Place and environs being hit Sunday. Agitators also destroyed property and ransacked businesses in such areas as Hollywood, Long Beach and Van Nuys.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva had said in a TV interview Tuesday that “the curfew will continue on a daily basis until the organized protests are gone.” But he told KTLA5 on Wednesday, “We saw mass amounts of people protesting peacefully” last night. As a result, hopefully we can start altering the curfew. … We definitely want to reward good behavior,” he said of the curfew. “We’re assessing it day by day.”
We will update this if other local municipalities lift their curfews.
Source: Read Full Article