Orlando, Orange County under curfew after George Floyd protests, businesses vandalized
At a press conference, Demings and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said they support and embrace peaceful demonstrations.
But the response has to be “thoughtful and peaceful," Demings said. “We cannot accept violence and destruction of the property of others.”
The curfew will start at tonight at 10 until 5 a.m. and is in effect indefinitely.
Orlando has a long history of demonstrating peacefully, Dyer said.
“Unfortunately last night a small group of people brought violence to these peaceful demonstrations," he added
Orlando demonstrations over the death of Floyd started out peacefully on Saturday but grew contentious in the evening when Orlando Police Department officers used a chemical agent on a group of protesters who were blocking S.R. 408.
Rolón defended his officers’ use of smoke and then tear gas, saying they first pleaded with protesters to stop throwing rocks and bottles. After the S.R. 408 incident, Rolón said protesters regathered at OPD headquarters and started to throw fireworks and bottles at the building. As officers prepared to throw chemical agents, the protesters became peaceful, he said.
On Orange Avenue, near the Grand Bohemian Hotel, two men were arrested Saturday for “battery of a law enforcement officer.” OPD officers used pepper spray “to de-escalate the situation,” he said. All of those arrested were in their mid-20s.
Police also responded to several reports of looting in at least six businesses in the Orlando area, including near Millenia Mall, Rolón said.
“As many as 30 vehicles arrived at the Millenia Mall, but when they saw the large police presence in the area, they turned their attention to nearby standalone businesses. The majority of affected businesses were stores in large retail chains,” he said.
Eight people were arrested in the mall incident, Rolón said on Sunday.
At the Krispy Kreme on Millenia Boulevard on Sunday afternoon, a brick lay on the sill of a shattered window. The entrance doors were boarded up at the doughnut shop and Panda Express next to it.
Large windows were covered with plywood at nearby The Container Store.
“Due to damage after civil unrest, The Container Store is closed today for all services,” a note taped outside the store said. “Thank you for your understanding. Be safe.”
Protests flared up across the state and the nation on Saturday night as people took to the streets to demand justice for Floyd, a Minnesota man who died Monday after being pinned to the ground with a knee to his neck by a Minneapolis police officer, which was captured on video.
The officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, was taken into custody Friday on murder and manslaughter charges.
Tens of thousands marched peacefully in dozens of cities, but some protests turned violent.
People set fire to squad cars, threw bottles at officers and busted windows of storefronts. In Indianapolis, multiple shootings were reported, including one that left a person dead, adding to deaths in Detroit and Minneapolis in recent days.
At least 13 police officers were injured in Philadelphia, and at least four police vehicles were set on fire. In New York City, confrontations flared as officers made arrests and cleared streets.
In Minneapolis, the city where the protests began, police, state troopers and National Guard members moved in soon after an 8 p.m. curfew took effect to break up the demonstrations.
“The racism that we have in America, I’ve certainly experienced," Orange Mayor Demings said. "I get it when it comes to understanding the call of action we’re seeing all across America.”
But he stressed the importance of peaceful protests.
Dyer acknowledged that as a white male, he doesn’t know what people of color are going through.
“I see you. I hear you and above all else we will not remain silent,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
