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As Alameda County residents have been ordered to remain inside their homes between the hours of 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. each day until June 5, neighboring Contra Costa County has issued the order indefinitely.
Exceptions include emergency first responders, media, people experiencing homelessness, those seeking medical care, and people traveling to or from work.
“Thousands of individuals came together Friday to what began as a peaceful, meaningful and solemn protest in Oakland. They established a space in which to express shared outrage and grief over the brutal killing of Mr. Floyd. Without question, the people who took to the streets to denounce police brutality and the horrific killing had the absolute right to publicly decry their outrage. Their voices and their messages are important and must be heard,” said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley.
“With great misfortune, the evening turned to one of violence and destruction. Individuals, some of whom are believed to be outsiders to Oakland, appeared hell bent on hijacking the moment,” she added. “Sadly, the local and national dialogue shifted from the important issues of racism, police brutality and the unjust killing of unarmed black men at the hands of law enforcement. Rather, all eyes turned to the destruction wrought by out-of-control vandals.”
On Tuesday, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page released recent protest arrest statistics, and reported that 122 people were booked into Santa Rita Jail on Monday, 82 of whom were not from Alameda County cities. Sheriff’s officials added that several were also from outside the region and state.The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors has unanimously passed a proclamation of local emergency and has installed a countywide curfew for 8 p.m., doing so in response to the civil unrest that has swept throughout the country and region following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Starting on Tuesday, Contra Costa County is requiring residents and visitors to stay indoors from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. the following day, until further notice.
“These are challenging times. The sorrow and pain that have filled our hearts here in our Bay Area home cannot be denied. The need and right to protest and be heard are ones that we all support,” said Supervisor Candace Andersen, chair of the county Board of Supervisors. “Today’s emergency proclamation and curfew order will help the county respond to looting, vandalism and any violence that should not be part of peaceful protests. That we do not support, as they only hurt our communities. We want peaceful protests, and we want all members of the public to be safe.”
Contra Costa County’s proclamation recognizes that the majority of protesters have acted peacefully and lawfully; however, some throughout the country — including in local communities such as Walnut Creek, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose — have resulted in riots and looting.
“Mr. Floyd tragically died just over a week ago. We recognize the importance of peaceful protests,” said County Administrator David J. Twa, who serves as the Administrator of Emergency Services. “We also want to emphasize the need for residents to stay home in the evenings and at night to stay safe. Our job is to protect lives — all lives. We want all people to stay safe during these difficult times.”
Locally, a peaceful protest was held in Dublin on Monday, where hundreds of residents gathered to protest police brutality around the country, as well as the death of Floyd, who was suffocated by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin while in police custody.
At least two more Tri-Valley protests are planned, with one scheduled to be held in San Ramon at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. That protest will begin at the Gale Ranch Plaza, 11000 Bollinger Canyon Road, and take protesters on a march to City Hall, 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road.
In Pleasanton, residents are also preparing for a protest, which will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday in front of the Amador Valley High School Theater, 1155 Santa Rita Road.
In a special address to local residents, San Ramon Police Chief Craig Stevens said, “This has been a difficult week for all of us. We have been both dismayed and disheartened. We were all dismayed when the video surfaced showing the death and the manner (in) which George Floyd was killed. We’ve been disheartened by the level of civil unrest that we have seen play out locally and across our entire country. But we understand people’s raw emotions; we understand people’s concerns and frustrations.”
“What we witnessed with George Floyd, there is no place for it in our profession. It has certainly cast a dark cloud over our entire profession. That is going to take a lot of work and effort on the part of law enforcement throughout the world to try to overcome and get past this,” he added.
Uh oh, Mr Twa is gonna get in trouble for using the phrase “all lives”. That’s no way for a public figure to talk.
I have zero respect for the police. Even our own department would rather protect their own problematic officers than protect the public. Zero respect.
Bill, you are a tool. I have a feeling you live a life where you get no respect, likely because you haven’t earned any. To not respect people that put their safety on the line during the course of their work to take care of your community is a great reflection on your own character. Have fun with your miserable life.
Cities with a downtown or mall…Pleasanton… should extend their curfew for another week…looting and riots are taking over the message and harming minority owned businesses and hard working business owners.
No, our curfew should not be extended. Our useless governor needs to step up, activate the National Guard throughout the state and crush these disgusting rioters and looters. We have been locked up for months and forced to wear masks “for our safety”, because we are apparently not smart enough to figure out how to protect ourselves. Now we are being told to remain in our homes for our safety as they let these animals run wild in the streets wreaking havoc and inflicting violence on innocent people, not to mention the destruction of pretty and businesses. Enough is enough.
I am sick to death with what is happening in our country – but not for the reasons many of you are. We have become such a “self serving” people. When did this happen? Nobody cares about what’s happening to EACH OTHER. How our actions may be affecting others. Every little thing has become a violation of my personal rights. REALLY! Are we that self centered that we can’t look at the whole picture and follow the common sense rules that have been TEMPORARILY put before us. Why is it now ok to steal anything we WANT or think we deserve from anyone we choose and face zero consequences. When did this become okay. Why are we allowing people in general to hurt each other mentally and physically with absolutely no repercussions. Not a place I enjoy living in. Not a way of life I want to get comfortable with. Let’s take back control of the goodness each of us are blessed with. Let’s get back to some manners and decorum in our society. Let’s get back to an ethical way of living our lives in harmony with each other. We’ve done it previously and we can do it again.
Clearly somebody is lying when
-all media outlets are reporting “peaceful” protests every time an unrest is reported
-most of California is still under some sort of lockdown due to a highly contagious virus that shut down the US economy
-every time a “peaceful” protest is mentioned it’s thousands upon thousands of people in one place being highly energetic
-there is a week long (indefinite in some cases) curfew in multiple counties in the Bay Area
I guess it’s up to us to think for ourselves why we are, for health and safety reasons, forbidden to take an evening walk on a summer night even though there is so much peaceful mass mingling going on everywhere where much of the crowd is not wearing masks.
Hm….