LIVE BLOG:
8:30 p.m. Virginia Beach has closed its streets in Town Center except for Market Street and Columbus Street. The closures are supposed to help enforce the governor’s curfew order with a group of 50 demonstrators.
8 p.m. Various demonstrations began Monday evening around Hampton Roads, including in Suffolk and Norfolk.
6:30 p.m. Hampton Roads Transit routes 15 and 23 will not run the Military Highway Light Rail Station or any stops on Military Highway because the highway will be shut down between Virginia Beach Boulevard and Corporate Boulevard. The cancellation is due to a planned demonstration.
6:15 p.m. The state has authorized the City of Virginia Beach to put a curfew in place for the city starting at 8 p.m. The governor’s executive order says the curfew is “due to past and potential future civil unrest that poses a danger to public safety.”
Read the governor’s full order here.
The order also activates the Virginia National Guard to state active duty.
The curfew is in place from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Tuesday. It will go through June 4.
There are some exceptions, including people traveling to and from work and places of worship, hospital personnel, members of the press, military personnel, and other emergency workers.
4:30 p.m. Virginia Beach Police say they have received information that National Guard troops will be in the city starting Monday evening.
3:15 p.m. The following information was announced during a Monday afternoon press conference by Virginia Beach city and police department leaders:
- Virginia Beach Interim Police Chief Anthony F. Zucaro, Jr. declared an unlawful assembly Sunday night around 10:30 p.m. after the group of protesters assembled on Atlantic Avenue became aggressive and started throwing projectiles at officers, damaging businesses, he said.
- Five police vehicles sustained damage, including broken windshields.
- Two Virginia Beach police officers were injured. Both received minor injuries, Zucaro said. One twisted his ankle on debris being thrown at officers. The other officer was injured after being hit with a cinder block by a protester.
- Police arrested 19 individuals as a result of Sunday night’s protest that continued into the early hours Monday. 2 were felonies, 16 were misdemeanor changes, and one was a traffic citation. The charges ranged from carrying a concealed weapon, simple assault on law enforcement, unlawful assembly and larceny, Zucaro said.
- Erin Sutton, Director of Emergency Management, says 48 businesses were vandalized causing $317,000 worth of damage.
- All municipal parking lots in the resort area will close at 6 p.m. Monday. There will be restricted access throughout the resort area, with barricades in place.
2 p.m. Virginia Beach officials are holding a press conference on Sunday night’s protests at 2:45 p.m. WAVY will have live coverage online and on-air. For the latest on the Oceanfront protests click here.
** Disclaimer: Images/Video may contain profanity **
8:30 a.m. The City of Chesapeake tells 10 On Your Side that there were no reports of damage to businesses in the city amid weekend protests across Hampton Roads.
7 a.m. – “That positive message completely gets lost….We’re all hurting for a lot of reasons, and now people want to add to that misery – the owner of Dough Boys tells WAVY’s Kiahnna Patterson.
6 a.m. — The Oceanfront area is cleaning up after Sunday night’s mostly peaceful protests turned violent, with property damage and police using tear gas on the crowd. WAVY’s Kiahnna Patterson and Deanna Bettineschi report multiple businesses were damaged, but no arrests have been reported at this time.
Kiahnna Patterson gives an overview of Sunday night’s events in the video below:
3:26 a.m. — Virginia Beach police tweeted that as of 2 a.m. no further acts of disturbance are occurring at the Oceanfront, but a heavy police presence will remain in place. Police are asking residents and visitors to avoid the area.
12:20 a.m. – Tamara Scott reports that Portsmouth Police and Chesapeake Police are on the scene at the Oceanfront to assist with crowds.
12:20 a.m. – From Virginia Beach Police officials:
“Currently there is extensive police activity at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Access to vehicles and pedestrians is being restricted at this time. All residents and visitors are requested to avoid the area. Future updates to this release will advise when it is safe to return to the area.”
11:41 p.m. – VBPD are clearing the Oceanfront; some protesters still in the area burning trash.
11:20 p.m. – VBPD deploy tear gas; line the streets in riot gear.
10:58 p.m. – Damage has been reported at local stores along the Oceanfront.
10:32 p.m. – The Virginia Beach Police Department declared the gathering an “Unlawful Assembly” requesting the participants to disperse.
10:15: p.m. – A truck is seen driving through the crowd near protesters; injuries are unknown at this time.
10:15 p.m. – Virginia Beach dispatchers confirm looting at 11th and Pacific Avenue.
9:56 p.m. – Protesters shut down the bridge at Rudee Inlet. In video posted to social media by WAVY News 10’s Brett Hall, you can see water bottles flying as police approached.
9:45 p.m. – A small portion of the marchers began to participate in criminal behavior resulting in police enforcement.
9:26 p.m. – WAVY News 10’s Brett Hall reports that protesters have blocked Atlantic Avenue at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
9:17 p.m. – The westbound lanes of the Downtown Tunnel are closed. This is unrelated to the scheduled eastbound closures. Update: The tunnel reopened shortly before 10 p.m.
9:07 p.m. – All lanes of I-264 west near City Hall are closed. Use the Waterside Drive exit as a detour.
8:42 p.m. – Protesters shut down the off-ramp at St. Paul’s Boulevard in Norfolk Sunday night. It reopened about 30 minutes later.
7:40 p.m. – A large group of people gathered at the Rudy Loop to participate in a peaceful march on Atlantic Avenue.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Residents around the country are out in the streets to protest the death of George Floyd and the Hampton Road community is among them.
Floyd was seen last week on video being pinned down by three Minneapolis officers while in police custody. One officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on Floyd’s neck as he continuously yelled in distress.
Following nationwide outrage, Chauvin was fired and has since been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
In Norfolk Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Martin Luther King J. Memorial park to march towards the Federal Building.
Earlier in the evening. the protests shut down parts of 264 Westbound in Norfolk, at the St. Paul’s Boulevard off-ramp for a while. It has since reopened.
The group Black Lives Matter 757 moved to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront to protest Sunday night.
A growing crowd blocked parts of Atlantic Avenue in the resort city.
On Friday, hundreds of people descended on Downtown Norfolk and Fort Monroe in Hampton
Black Lives Matter 757 organized two gatherings in Hampton Roads Friday called “blackout757.” Both began at 7:57 p.m. One was at Fort Monroe in Hampton near the pavilion, and another was in Martin Luther King Jr. Monument Park and the surrounding area in Norfolk.
The demonstration began at approximately 7:57 p.m. and the crowd moved on foot along the seawall at Fort Monroe to the gazebo.
Police say the crowd eventually dispersed from the interstate but reconvened in the area of Peninsula Town Center. After marching through the streets of the Peninsula Town Center, the group made its way onto Cunningham Drive, and eventually onto W. Mercury Boulevard near the Interstate 64 interchange around 9 p.m.
Their signs read “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace, no police brutality.”
A livestream on the Black Lives Matter 757 Facebook page showed protesters walking eastbound near the HRBT down the entrance ramp off Mallory Street.
Before the protest, Hampton Police say they reached out to the organizers prior to the event to make sure the planned demonstrations would be safe and peaceful.
According to reports, the crowd split into two groups. One group comprised of Black Lives Matter 757 coordinators made its way back to the Peninsula Town Center and dispersed peacefully.
The second group remained in the area of W. Mercury Boulevard. That crowd confronted officers in the Lidl parking lot who went to that area for security, and the police say demonstrators physically blocked traffic in both directions on W. Mercury Boulevard.
That group was instructed to disperse, however, the crowd refused to comply and some began to throw items at officers on the scene, police say.
Four individuals, including two adults and two juveniles, were arrested for charges including assault on law enforcement and disorderly conduct. The situation was resolved just before 2:30 a.m.
Hampton Police say that although they support the demonstrators’ right to peacefully protest, demonstrations that insight violence and mayhem “cannot and will not be tolerated.”
Saturday evening just after 9 p.m., protesters went through the westbound side of the Downtown Tunnel in Portsmouth blocking traffic. The eastbound lane was already scheduled to be closed.
Demonstrators started their march at 2 p.m. after a speech in front of the Norfolk Police Operations Center.
Norfolk Police Chief Larry D. Boone joined the protesters and marched on the streets of Norfolk.
Portsmouth Police followed the protesters who eventually made their way back to I.C. Norcom High School, where the protest began.
Later in the evening, it was found that the Confederate Monument was vandalized.
