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Dayton Mayor joined peaceful protests before announcing curfew

The city of Dayton enacted a curfew for parts of Downtown Dayton and the Oregon District, starting at 9 p.m. Saturday night, and ending at 6 a.m. Sunday morning

Before announcing that a curfew would be in place Saturday night, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley talked about joining the protest.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said in a news conference, “I want to be really clear today, and every day, that we are very serious in city hall and the city of Dayton that black lives matter. We are committed in Dayton to dismantle the systems of racism in our community and across the country. It is something we work on daily, the commissioners are dedicated to it, as am I and the city manager. That is why I decided to peacefully protest this afternoon, as you saw, and it was clear this afternoon as the protests disseminated we had some folks who wanted less about the issue of what we are talking about, and more of just wanting to cause trouble, and we expect that to happen tonight as well. So we are instituting, the city commission and the city manager agree, we will institute a curfew tonight for downtown tonight and for the Oregon District from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.”

The boundaries of the curfew are from Keowee Street on the east, the river to the north and west, and 6th street on the south.

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The mayor says those who do not follow the curfew will be arrested.

“I’ve been talking to other cities across the state of Ohio and they have had he same experience,” said Mayor Whaley. “The protest goes fine, it is the dissipation of a couple of people trying to get around, trying to get on the interstate, trying to cause some problem. It’s not even the protests, it’s just these small groups. With what they do, they are not set to have their voice heard; they are set to destruct. And so we have to protect the community is safe and that is why we are putting this curfew in place.”

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