Mayor Lifts Birmingham’s Curfew And Protest Ban At Midnight

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2020/06/78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:960;s:6:"height";i:540;s:4:"file";s:75:"2020/06/78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:12:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-336x189.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-771x434.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:434;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-768x432.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:432;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:73:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-300x300.jpg";s:5:"width";i:300;s:6:"height";i:300;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-553x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:553;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-470x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-600x540.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:540;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:75:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-e1591669215331-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Miranda Fulmore
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => WBHM
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_wp_attachment_backup_sizes] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:13:{s:9:"full-orig";a:3:{s:5:"width";i:960;s:6:"height";i:640;s:4:"file";s:52:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n.jpg";}s:14:"thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:11:"medium-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-336x224.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:224;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:17:"medium_large-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-768x512.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:512;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:10:"large-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-771x514.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:514;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"wbhm-icon-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:58:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"wbhm-featured-square-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-300x300.jpg";s:5:"width";i:300;s:6:"height";i:300;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:23:"wbhm-featured-home-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-467x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:467;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:27:"wbhm-featured-carousel-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-398x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:398;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:33:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:30:"ab-block-post-grid-square-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:19:"post-thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:60:"78479613_10158478806091779_2681881109809070080_n-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}
        )

)
1636099086 
1591651267

By Sam Prickett, BirminghamWatch

Birmingham’s public safety curfew and state of emergency will expire tonight, a week after they were enacted by Mayor Randall Woodfin in response to violent protests in the city’s downtown area.

“I want to thank the people of Birmingham for uniting and working together during this challenging time,” Woodfin said in a statement Monday. Both the curfew and the state of emergency will end at 11:59 p.m.

The curfew prevented residents (excepting essential workers) from leaving their homes between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. The state of emergency had established a 24-hour ban on public demonstrations and gatherings of all kinds in the city.

The curfew was enacted after a May 31 demonstration at Linn Park to protest the killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd by police.

Protestors attempted to dismantle the park’s Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument; Woodfin appeared at the protest and vowed to “finish the job.”

The monument was removed from the park the next day, but protestors also had toppled a statue of park namesake Charles Linn, attempted to set fire to another statue of Thomas Jefferson and defaced two other monuments on Sunday night.

The protestors then moved into the city’s downtown area, setting fires and breaking out windows of local businesses. Woodfin would later attribute that violence to looters looking “to smash and grab” and outside anarchists looking to “smash, destroy and burn.”

Birmingham city law allows the mayor to “prohibit or regulate any demonstration, parade, march, vigil or participation therein from taking place on any of the public ways or upon any public property” during a state of emergency.

After several organizations, including the ACLU of Alabama, questioned the constitutionality of the state of emergency order, Woodfin softened his stance to allow permitted protests to take place at Legion Field and W. C. Patton Park.

Meanwhile, Linn Park was surrounded with a chain-link fence to prevent further gatherings. Woodfin told reporters last week his office had become “aware of credible threats against the city, certain locations, individuals and protestors,” and that the curfew and ban on demonstrations was an attempt “to balance the right to assembly with the absolute need for public safety.”

Though some protestors were arrested for violating the curfew — and despite unfounded rumors of a Ku Klux Klan rally in downtown Birmingham on Thursday — further demonstrations in Birmingham remained largely peaceful.

 

Puerto Rico holds general election that promises to be historic

Puerto Rico is holding elections that will be historic regardless of which of the top two gubernatorial candidates wins.

Boeing machinists approve contract, bringing an end to a bruising seven-week strike

Striking machinists voted to approve an agreement that will hike wages by 38%. The deal was endorsed by union leaders, who warned that Boeing’s next offer might be worse.

States and cities beef up security to prepare for potential election-related violence

Washington state's governor activated the National Guard to stand by to help local law enforcement as needed. Meanwhile, extra security is in place at locations across Washington, D.C.

When will mail-in and absentee ballots be counted?

Various state rules regarding when election officials can process and count mail ballots means it will likely take some time after Election Day before the results from these ballots are fully known.

When do polls close in every state? Here’s a timeline

The Associated Press can't call any races until polls close in their respective state. Here's a breakdown of when that will happen.

How has the Electoral College survived, despite being perennially unpopular?

Despite its substantial-sounding name, the Electoral College isn’t a permanent body: It’s more of a process. For decades, a majority of Americans have wanted it to be changed.

More BirminghamWatch Coverage