Columbia has a new emergency curfew Monday night
Columbia is under another curfew on Monday.
Mayor Steve Benjamin announced the curfew just minutes before it went into effect at 7:45 p.m.
Like an emergency curfew put into effect over the weekend, the announced curfew applies in downtown Columbia, the Vista and Five Points.
Benjamin announced the curfew on Twitter at 7:27 p.m., saying he’d reached the decision “after consulting with all of the hospitality associations & several businesses and citizens.
“Great discussions today with a lot of well meaning, passionate citizens. We will continue that dialogue tomorrow,” the mayor wrote.
The new curfew will expire at 6 a.m. in the affected areas. A citywide curfew passed to encourage social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak remains in effect from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. every night.
The curfew covers an identical area to the emergency measure put in effect by the city on Saturday night, which expired at 6 a.m. Monday.
That measure was announced after a march protesting the killing of George Floyd at the S.C. State House ended with clashes between protesters and police, windows smashed on multiple downtown businesses, arrests for looting and several cars set on fire.
Benjamin spoke earlier in the day to protesters gathered at the State House for the third straight day. He praised the dialogue he was able to have with the protesters and the peaceful nature of the protests, and said he hoped another curfew would not be necessary.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 8:10 PM.
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