Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed the citywide curfew back to 11 p.m. Wednesday after her previous two-night curfew lifted earlier in the morning.
Bowser said the new curfew will last from 11:00 p.m. Wednesday until 6:00 a.m. Thursday, as the city attempts to balance protesting rights with clashes between residents, police and the National Guard, according to Washington Post report. Peter Newsham, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said the “behavior” of D.C. protesters drew city officials to ease the curfew back four hours later, The Post reported.
“The behavior of the protesters suggest that we should push the curfew back,” he said during a news conference Wednesday. “The largest group of protesters that we have seen to this point have been doing a little bit of self-policing.”
The announcement follows a set of two previous curfews Bowser ordered Sunday and Monday to control citywide protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and police brutality throughout the country. Bowser placed Sunday’s curfew from 11:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. and activated her Monday and Tuesday night orders from 7:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m.
Almost 40 ANC commissioners pressed Bowser to delay her 7:00 p.m. curfew Tuesday to allot voters more time to cast their ballots at in-person voting centers in the District. The letter states the curfew would put voters at risk of confrontation with police despite the curfew’s exemption of voters.