NYC Curfew Extended Through Sunday As Looting Persists

NEW YORK CITY — A citywide curfew enacted Monday will stay in place for the rest of the week as authorities try to quell the looting and vandalism seen across New York City for several nights in a row, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

The curfew will run from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and will be in effect through Sunday, de Blasio said during a news briefing Tuesday.

Those exempted from the curfew include police officers, firefighters, first responders and emergency medical technicians, essential workers, the homeless and individuals seeking medical treatment or medical supplies.

"We're going to use the curfew as a new tool," de Blasio said.

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Nearly 700 people were arrested Monday night as looters plundered and vandalized businesses in Midtown Manhattan, including the Macy's Herald Square flagship, and along Fordham Road in The Bronx ahead of an 11 p.m. curfew, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.

De Blasio instituted the 11 p.m. curfew after looters ransacked luxury stores in Soho late Sunday, then announced a second, earlier curfew starting Tuesday after reports of more looting and vandalism came in just before Monday's curfew was scheduled to begin.

The mayor's executive order characterized the nighttime break-ins as an escalation of the largely peaceful demonstrations that began in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis killed in police custody.

A sixth day of protests kicked off Tuesday with a 1 p.m. demonstration in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan.

"These protests have power and meaning," de Blasio tweeted late Monday. "But as the night wears on we are seeing groups use them to incite violence and destroy property."

But the mayor also urged those protesting police brutality in the wake of Floyd's death to consider how demonstrations may accelerate the spread of the new coronavirus, which has kept the city under a lockdown order since late March.

"That is not a minor matter at this point," de Blasio said. "That danger is increasing."

As of Monday, more than 350 people were still in city ICUs due to the coronavirus, and another 40 were hospitalized with suspected cases of the virus, the mayor said.

New York City is due to start reopening on June 8, paving the way for roughly 400,000 employees in manufacturing, construction and retail to return to work.