Curfew Considered After Violent Night Of Protest In NYC

NEW YORK CITY — A curfew could be put in place in New York City after what had been mainly peaceful protests descended into violence and a rampage of looting Sunday night.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was speaking with police chiefs and with Governor Andrew Cuomo to discuss if New Yorkers should be ordered off the streets Monday night.

Curfews are already in place in cities including Minnesota, Los Angeles and Philadelphia after days of rage following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota cops.

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New York City has so far avoided the order as thousands of people have taken to streets across the five boroughs in what were overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations.

But on Sunday night large scale looting was seen for the first time since protesting began Thursday. Focused mainly on Lower Manhattan, particularly Soho, it targeted largely luxury stores including Chanel, Bloomingdales and Gucci, cops said.

NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea estimated more than 400 people were arrested overnight Sunday alone.

"To date, we have not believed a curfew is the right strategy," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. "But we are now discussing it as an option.

He said the discussions would happen early Monday afternoon.

"We have to look at it as an option, but we have not made a decision," he said.

Cuomo said, "Curfew is not a silver bullet, but obviously last night was not good so what can we do differently? What can we do better?"

The mayor blamed the violence on a small group of people who were infiltrating the thousands of peaceful protesters and trying to incite trouble.

He said of those arrested and accused of violence, one out of every seven was from outside of the city and they were overwhelmingly white.

"I struggle to identify their ideology," he said. "They want to cause destruction. They have a violent agenda."