Hundreds of protesters joining in a nationwide spate of anti-police-brutality demonstrations marched, chanted and carried signs in San Diego Tuesday for the fourth consecutive day, calling for an end to racial inequities in law enforcement while remaining largely peaceful and orderly.
Early in the afternoon, scores of mostly young people marched through downtown San Diego and into Balboa Park, shouting in unison “no justice, no peace — no racist police.”
As of early evening, the rallies — part of a civil justice movement exponentially intensified by the in-custody death of 46-year-old George Floyd of Minneapolis on May 27 — were proceeding in markedly different fashion than large-scale local protests that escalated into violence, arson and looting last weekend.
San Diego Police reported two arrests — one for graffiti and the other for being drunk in public and resisting arrest. There were no reports of injuries or looting.
In Santee, some protesters were arrested for curfew violations after refusing to clear an intersection as a citywide curfew went into effect, authorities reported.
Approximately 200 protesters were at the intersection of Mission Gorge Road and Cuyamaca Street about 7 p.m. when deputies in a helicopter made announcements that the curfew was about to begin and would be enforced, according to Sgt. Ashley Lewis of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
Some protesters left, but a vast majority refused to leave the area and a San Diego sheriff’s Mobile Field Force was called to the intersection to disperse the remaining protesters,
Lewis said. Multiple arrests were made and the remaining protesters cleared out, she said, but no injuries or looting was reported.
On Sunday afternoon, San Diego police reported that 100 to 200 protesters were throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at officers in the 300 block of Broadway. More than 100 people were arrested and booked on various charges, including failure to disperse, burglary, assaulting peace officers and vandalism.
An even more destructive demonstration took place Saturday in La Mesa, where vandals and shoplifters broke windows, burnt several buildings, looted stores and stopped traffic on Interstate 8 during a protest over an officer’s purported rough treatment of a young black man arrested last week in the East County city.
Updated at 10:25 a.m., Wednesday, June 3, 2020
— From Staff and Wire Reports
