Live blog: Curfew now in effect for Marion County
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Much of downtown appeared empty Sunday night after a countywide curfew went into effect at 9 p.m.
10:38 p.m. update
Police say a “smash-and-grab” lasting only seconds happened at a Target store at Washington Square Mall, near 10th Street and Mitthoeffer Road. According to IMPD, a report had come in about 20 or so cars, with some juveniles, traveling on Franklin Road. The commander looking into that report saw a couple juveniles smash the doors and run. Police did not pursue them because it did not appear anyone was injured. Police did not say whether anything was taken.
9:51 p.m. update
News 8’s Julia Deng, David Williams and Richard Essex report police arresting people downtown more than an hour into the countywide curfew that extends until 6 a.m. Monday.
David Williams captured this image of Washington and Pennsylvania streets around 9:50 p.m.
9:10 p.m. update
Several people have been arrested at Washington and Pennsylvania streets. Julia Deng is on the scene and working to find out more information.
7:45 p.m. update
IMPD Chief Randal Taylor is set to speak about the department’s plans to enforce the countywide 8 p.m. curfew. News 8 will carry it live on WISH-TV, WISHTV.com, the WISH-TV news app and Facebook.
7:30 p.m. update
IMPD says the following announcements have been or will be given by district cars as the countywide curfew approaches.
Announcements will be given by district cars:
It is now 7:30 p.m. We want to ensure that everyone has time to return before the 8:00 p.m. curfew begins. If you are still here after 8:00 p.m., you will be subject to arrest.
It is now 7:45 p.m. We want to ensure that everyone has time to return before the 8:00 p.m. curfew begins. If you are still here after 8:00 p.m., you will be subject to arrest.
It is now 8:00 p.m., the mandatory curfew is in effect. You should return home immediately or you will be subject to arrest.
7:15 p.m. update
News 8’s Julia Deng reports police are deploying tear gas at Washington and Meridian streets in downtown Indianapolis. Witnesses also told her a baby in a car at Massachusetts Avenue and New York Street was rushed to a hospital for tear gas exposure around 6:15 p.m.
7 p.m. update
With an hour left before the 8 p.m. countywide curfew issued by Mayor Joe Hogsett, protesters are moving through downtown.
IndyGo announced buses will still operate for essential travel only after 8 p.m. Riders can transfer at Lucas Oil Stadium at the McCarty Street entrance. The Julia Carson Transit Center will be closed until further notice, according to the transportation corporation.
4:20 p.m. update
Indiana Department of Transportation announces the 8 p.m. closure of multiple ramps that lead into downtown Indianapolis. The closures are to help Indiana State Police and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police with the curfew, according to INDOT. The ramps are scheduled to reopen at 6 a.m. Monday.
- I-70 WB to Fletcher/Ohio/Michigan
- I-65 SB to Fletcher/Ohio/Michigan
- I-65 NB to Washington St
- I-65 NB/SB to MLK
4:10 p.m. update
Indy Parks announces all city parks will close at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night due to the 8 p.m. curfew in Indianapolis.
4 p.m. update
The Indiana Pacers released a statement condemning racism and said they fully support the peaceful protests.
2 p.m. update
Indiana faith leaders held a demonstration for racial justice downtown, followed by a march from the Statehouse to the City-County building.
Indianapolis Urban league released a statement on the recent riots and protests in the city of Indianapolis.
“Many are familiar with a famous observation by Martin Luther King, Jr., “…a riot is the language of the unheard.” What people seldom remember is his observation afterward that is just as salient and relevant today, “And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”
This quote, from Dr. Kings’ 1967 “The Other America” speech given at Stanford University, crystallizes what lies at the heart of the frustrations that have been aired both verbally and physically this past weekend in Indianapolis and across our nation.
Inequality is a reality Indianapolis. Inequality of employment, housing, education, health care and justice go unheard from generation to generation. What we are experiencing in our city, and cities across our country, is the language of pain when people’s spirits are broken and they move beyond hopelessness to outrage.
We shudder at the display of violence and the visible outcome of the broken glass and desecration of monuments, sidewalks and things deemed valuable by, and to, our community, yet for decades leaders have been willing to look past the visible scars of destruction and disparity of social injustice passed from generation to generation of people of color.
The scars of repeated history are the persistent victimization of Blacks from Eric Garner, to Sandra Bland, to Ahmed Aubrey, to Breonna Taylor, to George Floyd, and from Michael Taylor to Aaron Bailey to Dreasjon Reed; only the names change but the outcomes remain the same. Black men and Black women die at the hands of law enforcement and rarely are the officers charged, prosecuted, and convicted for their crimes even though we witness them in real time.
Peaceful protests are a constitutional right and must be permitted to continue. However, those who are rioting, damaging property, and looting should be held accountable and so must our city hold officers of the law to the same level of accountability for its actions. Now that this happened in our city, it will continue to happen unless things change.
The trauma of history a third of our community experiences daily from Black unemployment rates that triple that of Whites, to a lack of affordable housing, to under-resourced and under-performing schools,to persistent and growing health disparities, to a lack of investment in communities of color that breed and feed both the perception and reality of second-class citizenship for Blacks in Marion County.
If you are born poor in Indianapolis, you are likely to die poor in Indianapolis. Indianapolis ranks near the bottom in social mobility. Marion County has the fourth highest rate of poverty in the state of Indiana at 19.8% but the poverty rate for Blacks is 28%. Since 2000, the home ownership rate for Black households in Marion County has sharply declined to less than 40%. Black neighborhoods are being gentrified and Blacks are being displaced.
Discussions around equity, economic inclusion, livable wages, affordable housing, school improvement and police reform must move from talk to commitments accompanied by long-term financial investments from the city, the state, corporations and philanthropies towards sustainable solutions.
Social justice is not just a concept, it is a commitment to creating a fair and equal society in which each individual matters, their rights are recognized and protected and decisions are made in ways that are fair an honest. Those we seek to help must be included in the process and their voices must be heard. These problems of inequality not only exist in Indianapolis but they are pervasive throughout our state. They are not just problems for Blacks and Latinos living in urban communities, these are the same problems being experienced by poor Whites living in both urban and rural communities. The diversity of the protesters and the diversity of those who struggle to survive throughout our community and across our state should be notable to all.
While the COVID-19 virus prevents us from physically embracing at this time, it is more important than ever that we join together in understanding the impacts of the contagions of discrimination, racism, and inequality.
The leadership and citizenry of Indianapolis and the State of Indiana must re-commit itself to being genuinely inclusive, broad-based, and pro-active so that the language of pain from the excluded and unheard gives way to equity, true justice and humanity. This is our only choice and only way forward to a better place and quality of life for all.”
Indianapolis Urban League
1:57 p.m. update
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb on Sunday signed an executive order and directed members of the Indiana National Guard to be on standby in response to two violent nights of protest in Indianapolis.
11:30 a.m. update
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said Sunday he would sign an executive order issuing a Marion County-wide curfew after protests turned violent overnight.