San Francisco’s mayor and police chief said Sunday the city’s 8 p.m. curfew will be extended indefinitely and that people who are out after that time will be stopped.
Mayor London Breed said Gov. Gavin Newsom had approved sending in about 200 extra officers from other agencies.
Breed, who grew up in San Francisco, expressed sadness about the destruction but said she was not going to tolerate the violence. She said the fire department was inundated with calls because of fires and medical emergencies and had fire bombs thrown at them.
“In watching the videos, I was extremely upset because unfortunately with some of the vandals, they thought this was a game, they thought this was funny. And this is not funny. To damage property, to set fires that could lead to someone else’s death, to do the kinds of things that destroy and tear down our city as a symbol of what is going on … this is not who we are. We should not be OK with this.”
She said there were a lot of juveniles among the protesters: “So parents, where are your kids? Where are your kids?”
Police Chief Bill Scott said he sympathized with the message of the peaceful protests.
“As an African American man, I think I know probably more than most how it feels. I know both sides of this equation. We’re seeing violence across the country, we’re seeing peaceful protests across the county … We do hear you. We do hear you. Your mayor hears you, your chief of police hears you, the San Francisco Police Department hears you,” Scott said.
