It seems the city of Irvine is taking precautions against looting and rioting, as a social media video shows stores at Irvine Market Place being boarded up Sunday evening. 

There was also reports of a large police presence at Irvine Spectrum. Members of the Irvine Spectrum security office declined to comment to Irvine Weekly at the time of this report. As of 9:50 p.m., however, all entrances to the Spectrum appear blocked off.

(Evan J. Lancaster)

As of 8:05 p.m. Sunday, the Irvine Police Department tweeted that it had received “many inquiries” from residents asking about curfew, but there is currently no curfew in place for the city of Irvine. 

This comes at the end of a nonviolent day for protesters who gathered in front of Irvine City Hall. Of the 100 or so protesters, many who gathered were there to support Black Lives Matter by protesting the death of George Floyd. Floyd died while being detained by Minneapolis police. One officer, since fired, has been charged with third degree murder.

In a Facebook post Sunday evening, Irvine Police Chief Mike Hamel expressed his support for the nonviolent protesters while cautioning against violence and vandalism.

“Should more protests take place in Irvine, we will make every effort to protect the First Amendment rights of those who wish to have their voices heard. We will support peaceful protests, as we did today, but we won’t tolerate demonstrators who resort to violence or property destruction,” he wrote.

Mayor Christina Shea also issued an update Sunday night.

Cities across the nation have grappled with how to respond to days of protests and unrest.

After a weekend of largely nonviolent demonstrations, marked at times by looting and clashes, Los Angeles County is under curfew from 6 p.m.-6 a.m. Governor Gavin Newsom had previously on Saturday declared a state of emergency in L.A. and approved Mayor Eric Garcetti’s requests for National Guard support.

While Orange County has not seen as much unrest in recent days, Santa Ana and parts of Huntington Beach will be under curfew Sunday night.

 

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