Name: Unrest spreads to Bay Area suburbs: Walnut Creek declares curfew, woman shot
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Unrest spreads to Bay Area suburbs: Walnut Creek declares curfew, woman shot

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWalnut Creek declared a citywide curfew Sunday night and asked businesses to shut down immediately in response to unrest and looting in the Broadway Plaza shopping area, one of several Bay Area suburbs where vandalism was reported.A woman was shot and wounded in the arm in connection with the Walnut Creek unrest, police told The Chronicle. Dozens of stores in the shopping district were vandalized, and officers eventually fired tear gas to disperse protesters.“Due to civil unrest in the Broadway Plaza area, the city of Walnut Creek is establishing a curfew, effective at 6:00 pm today &amp; asking all businesses downtown to close immediately,” the Police Department tweeted. “Please ensure your doors are locked &amp; secured.”Nearby Pleasant Hill warned people to stay away from that city’s downtown and the Crossroads Shopping Center and declared a curfew Sunday night. Danville and Santa Clara also imposed curfews, joining San Francisco and San Jose in ordering people not to go out at night without a valid reason.In Fremont, access to the Pacific Commons shopping center was closed around 9 p.m. due to “civil unrest throughout the region and shopping centers being targeted by looters,” the Police Department there reported. And in San Leandro, there was widespread looting in and around Bayfair Mall. Dozens of stores were ransacked.Walnut Creek police Capt. Jay Hill said there had been a shooting related to the protests in the Contra Costa County city, but details were sketchy. Several officers said the victim was a woman.BART said it had closed the Walnut Creek, Concord, Lafayette and Hayward stations because of the unrest. The Walnut Creek station is near a Target store, one of several that the chain has temporarily shuttered in the Bay Area because of unrest prompted by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd on Monday.George Floyd ProtestsThe Walnut Creek Target was among the stores vandalized Sunday. The sound of saws and power tools filled the air downtown as dozens of stores boarded up after seeing the looting at dozens of other establishments, including at Macy’s in Broadway Plaza.Police in riot gear stood guard at every major entrance to the downtown core, blocking off traffic and telling people to go home before night fell.“We’ve got a lot of nice places to steal from, so maybe that’s why they’re coming here,” Hill said. “I don’t see any signs around these smashed stores, just broken glass.”Around 7:30 p.m., about 30 protesters started marching down North Main Street yelling, “No justice no peace,” and other slogans. About an hour later, police fired tear gas at the group to keep them away from stores at North California Boulevard and Bonanza Street. The crowd ran north and appeared to have dispersed.“I understand protesting, but when it comes to ruining people’s businesses, especially with this pandemic going on — how can you do this?” said Marc Croke of Pleasant Hill, who came to town to help friends board up the Havana restaurant on Bonanza Street. “It’s one thing to protest, but this? How does this help racial justice? I’d say the police need to be leaning hard on this destruction to prevent it.”Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.Paris Peabody, 24, came from Concord to join the protest. He said he wanted to send a peaceful message, not one of vandalism.“It’s important for people to keep their heads cool,” he said. “Big corporations like Target in Minneapolis — OK, maybe the destruction there you could understand. But little places around here? No.“This is about racial justice, not looting.”One woman who gave her name only as Bee drove to Walnut Creek in her Toyota SUV, which had been painted with slogans including, “Listen to our cries,” to join the protest.“I live in the East Bay, and I went to Danville and a lot of places where white people need to wake up,” she said. “They need to hear things are not business as usual. If the cops stopped killing us, this stuff wouldn’t happen.”Kevin Fagan and Trapper Byrne are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email:Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWalnut Creek declared a citywide curfew Sunday night and asked businesses to shut down immediately in response to unrest and looting in the Broadway Plaza shopping area, one of several Bay Area suburbs where vandalism was reported.A woman was shot and wounded in the arm in connection with the Walnut Creek unrest, police told The Chronicle. Dozens of stores in the shopping district were vandalized, and officers eventually fired tear gas to disperse protesters.“Due to civil unrest in the Broadway Plaza area, the city of Walnut Creek...

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Kevin Fagan

Trapper Byrne

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Unrest spreads to Bay Area suburbs: Walnut Creek declares curfew, woman shot

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