Protesters hit downtown Santa Rosa streets for second night after violence and vandalism Saturday
Santa Rosa braced Sunday for a second straight night of unrest downtown, where daybreak hours earlier illuminated a city shaken by street clashes between protesters and authorities, the aftermath of a peaceful demonstration Saturday that spiraled into nighttime violence, prompting police to deploy tear gas and rubber bullets as they worked to restore order until the early morning hours.
Business and church windows were shattered downtown and buildings were tagged with anti-police graffiti, the actions of a small group of protesters following a daytime demonstration that drew hundreds of people to condemn police treatment of minorities following the death of George Floyd, a black man killed while in police custody in Minneapolis last week.
At least three people, all Sonoma County residents, were arrested on suspicion of failing to disperse from the scene of a riot, and authorities reported individuals throwing fireworks, rocks, bricks and glass bottles at officers.
“It’s a scary situation,” said Santa Rosa Police Chief Ray Navarro. “You don’t know who’s in the crowd. You don’t know what they have.”
The department was planning for more nights of protest, but the city held off on issuing a curfew as of 9 p.m. Sunday, when another wave of demonstrators, totaling about 200 people, filled the southern end of Old Courthouse Square, their plans for the night unknown.
On Saturday night, protesters streamed onto Highway 101 twice, blocking the highway before they were cleared by authorities. Navarro said a passing motorist was assaulted during the dispersal of protesters but police but had not made any arrests.
A group of demonstrators threw rocks through several windows and tried to break open the front door of Cafe Mimosa at the corner of Mendocino and College avenues, said business owner Yazen Atallah. He opened the remodeled site of Adel’s Restaurant in January, only to run almost immediately into the coronavirus pandemic, and he estimated upwards of $20,000 in damage was done Sunday.
He expressed understanding for the protesters, who didn’t appear to be looting but rather acting out of unrest.
“I forgive whoever did it,” Atallah said, “because I understand the frustration in what’s going on today. But it’s not the answer - violence is not the answer, ruining a business is not the answer.”
Floyd died on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer, who now faces murder and manslaughter charges, pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as the prone man’s pleas for air were ignored by surrounding officers. Cellphone video of the fatal encounter went viral, leading to protests that began in Minnesota and spread to cities across the United States denouncing the deaths of Floyd and other black people at the hands of police.
Navarro, who has viewed the video, said he understood the anger and erosion of trust in law enforcement it has unleashed. He asked people to protest peacefully and expressed confidence in the temperament and training of his own officers.
“I don’t think you’re going to find anybody in law enforcement who thinks this was justified. It was terrible,” Navarro said of Floyd’s death. “Nine minutes on somebody’s neck is not something that we practice or that we condone here.”
The daytime demonstration in Santa Rosa, which began at noon Saturday in Old Courthouse Square, drew more than 500 people who held signs and chanted before marching north on Mendocino Avenue, toward the junior college campus.
By 9 p.m., police said in a statement, most of the demonstrators had dispersed, leaving behind about 150 people whose actions became increasingly confrontational. Officers, in turn, used nonlethal projectiles and their batons as they sought to quell the unrest, which lasted roughly until 3 a.m., the Santa Rosa Police Department said in a statement.
A press release issued by the police department Sunday reported no injuries, but a freelance photojournalist working for The Press Democrat photographed a woman bleeding from her head after she was hit with a nonlethal round. Authorities asked anyone who was caught in violence during the night to contact the Santa Rosa Police Department.
Investigators did narrow in on one incident involving a Santa Rosa teen who before nightfall Saturday drove a red Toyota pickup truck through a crowd of dozens assembled in the street near Old Courthouse Square. Police impounded the truck and released the teen, who told officers that his goal was not to hit people but to display the American flag flying from the back of the truck. No injuries were reported.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: