Mayor Mendenhall Announces End To City Curfew
Jun 3, 2020, 1:23 PM | Updated: 2:07 pm
Salt Lake Mayor Erin Mendenhall joined the Salt Lake Police Chief in suggesting outsiders were responsible for inciting a riot that caused property damage in several areas of the city.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced she’s ending the city’s curfew.
In a thread on Twitter, she praised the “respect that protestors have largely shown for one another, police, and our city.”
“I believe that Salt Lake City is once again proving itself to be a place of peace and progress,” she wrote.
A curfew of 8 p.m. – 6 a.m. was put in place after a protest on Saturday that turned violent. Dozens of people were arrested, multiple officers were injured, two vehicles – including a police vehicle – were flipped and burned, and property throughout the downtown area was vandalized.
However, there have been multiple peaceful protests in Salt Lake City and in cities across Utah in the days that followed. Most of those demonstrations happened with few incidents.
“I want you to know that I see all of you out there doing your best not only to keep things peaceful, but also coming together across lines to communicate and connect,” Mendenhall tweeted. “I don’t want this simmer of frustration to disappear, but I want to work together to direct it toward positivity and progress.”
She wrote that overt racism and implicit bias is affecting people of color in the United States to fairly access health care, education, the economy, the judicial system, food, child care, and “more opportunities than we can name.”
“I’m committed to the work,” she wrote, “and I know you are, too.”
This article will be updated.
Today I will be ending the curfew in Salt Lake City. After seeing the respect that protestors have largely shown for one another, police, and our city, I believe that Salt Lake City is once again proving itself to be a place of peace and progress. #utpol #slc
— SLC Mayor Erin Mendenhall (@slcmayor) June 3, 2020
