Name: Police, protesters clash in downtown Cleveland during George Floyd protests as businesses looted, curfew imposed
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Police, protesters clash in downtown Cleveland during George Floyd protests as businesses looted, curfew imposed

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NEW!287sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio — Police and protesters clashed for hours in downtown Cleveland on Saturday in the wake of a chaotic demonstration against the police killing of George Floyd, following other cities throughout the country.After protests earlier in the day that saw police cars torched and windows to the Justice Center smashed, some protesters shattered windows along main business corridors, including Euclid Avenue.Cleveland police shot tear gas, sometimes as they drove badly damaged vans through intersections, at groups that remained downtown after Mayor Frank Jackson imposed an 8 p.m. curfew for the downtown area and declared a civil emergency. The curfew remains in effect until 8 a.m. Sunday.Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent the National Guard to the city at the request of Jackson and Police Chief Calvin Williams. State Highway Patrol Officers blocked highway entrance ramps into downtown.Cleveland police made “multiple” arrests after the curfew was imposed, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said. She did not provide more information on the arrests.Jackson in a statement said the protests turned into “outright lawlessness.”“This violent unlawful behavior completely overshadows the purpose of the demonstrations and those in whose honor they are held,” Jackson’s statement said. “This criminal activity will also not be tolerated.”Several thousand protestors descended on downtown to decry the Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, who knelt on his neck for some eight minutes until Floyd stopped moving.Floyd’s death became a rallying point for protesters across the country. In Ohio, protesters squared off with police in Columbus and Cincinnati. Curfews were also imposed in those cities.A peaceful protest that began at the Free Stamp turned volatile when the group marched to the Justice Center, the downtown building that houses police headquarters, the county jail and courthouse.Protesters set several police cars ablaze, smashed windows and spray-painted graffiti, including references to Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer in 2014, and past riots in Cleveland in the 1960s.Officers in full riot gear repeatedly fired tear gas into the crowd. Protesters often scooped up the canister and threw it back at the officers.Protesters left the area around the Justice Center and branched east. Groups tore down Euclid Avenue from Public Square, smashing windows and emptying stores. Geiger’s, a family-owned sporting goods and clothing store, was ransacked of goods and mannequins. The windows at Heinen’s were smashed and aisles were lined with crushed and spilled food. Ceramic planters were shattered on the sidewalk.Red spray paint emblazoned “should have listened to us earlier” on the shattered windows at the Halle Building. A pillar outside the Starbucks at Playhouse Square was graffitied with “Do you hear us now?”The air was filled with the constant screech of security alarms, police and EMS sirens, tires peeling out and protest chants, interrupted by sporadic pops of firecrackers and tear gas canisters.Police and sheriff’s deputies in riot gear clashed with demonstrators minutes after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect at East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue. People in the crowd chucked water bottles and construction debris at police who had come to the intersection in a Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department bus used to transport prisoners. The police blocked the intersection as officers deployed tear gas and made several arrests.The crowd broke into smaller factions that scattered across downtown and continued smashing windows.Another confrontation broke out at East 9th Street and Prospect Avenue, where police fired flash bangs on crowds of demonstrators, some of whom chucked fire crackers at police in return. A group of police officers inside a City of Cleveland van that had earlier been vandalized and spray painted with the anti-cop message “f - - - 12” fired a flash bang at a crowd near the windows of Panini’s downtown as they drove past.Read more from cleveland.com:Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!287sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio — Police and protesters clashed for hours in downtown Cleveland on Saturday in the wake of a chaotic demonstration against the police killing of George Floyd, following other cities throughout the country.After protests earlier in the day that saw police cars torched and windows to the Justice Center smashed, some protesters shattered windows along main business corridors, including Euclid Avenue.Cleveland police shot tear gas, sometimes as they drove badly damaged vans through intersections, at groups that remained downtown after Mayor Frank Jackson imposed an...

Police, protesters clash in downtown Cleveland during George Floyd protests as businesses looted, curfew imposed

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