By Thomas Stevenson – The Postmillennial
Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has issued an emergency curfew after multiple days of riots and looting. Those who are out on the streets after curfew will be subject to prosecution and the mayor said that it will likely last “several days.”
Bass made the announcement on Tuesday evening, saying, “Good evening, everyone. I wanted to let the city know that I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for downtown Los Angeles to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting.”
“Many businesses have now been affected by or vandalized. Last night, there were 23 businesses that were looted, and I think that if you drive through downtown LA, the graffiti is everywhere and has caused significant damages to businesses and a number of properties,” Bass added.
She warned those that would think about going inside the area, saying, “Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew, and you will be prosecuted. Hundreds of officers from police and sheriff departments from across the region and state are working alongside LAPD through a unified command structure.”
The curfew will begin at 8 pm local time on Tuesday and end at 6 am on Wednesday and will likely last for “several days.” This comes after there has been violence in the streets of downtown LA over the weekend and bleeding into Monday and Tuesday. Mass looting took place on Sunday night as well as Monday night into Tuesday morning.
During the most recent wave of looting, over 100 people were arrested. Bass attempted to emphasize that the curfew was only taking place in “one square mile,” and said that most of the city has gone about the last few days like normal.
“Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance as though this is a city-wide crisis, and it is not,” she said as she announced the curfew. During the chaos over the weekend, a number of Waymo cars were torched by the rioters and police had to use non-lethal munitions to tamp down the unrest.
Additionally, President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to LA, however, Bass as well as California Governor Gavin Newsom have placed blame on Trump for escalating violence, pointing to the deployment of the National Guard as the cause. Newsom launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday for the action.