Detroit protesters declare 'victory' as Chief Craig says he won't enforce curfew

Protesters declared victory Wednesday night after Detroit Police Chief James Craig surprised hundreds of marchers who had ignored the city's 8 p.m. curfew by saying he was not enforcing it. 

About 8:30 p.m., as protesters marched east from downtown, Craig got out of a police cruiser on East Jefferson at McDougall and said, "You know, curfews are discretionary."

Lead protester Tristan Taylor then told the chanting, sign-waving crowd they are going to start heading back downtown.

"We are going to have a victory march," he shouted. 

Applause and cheers erupted from the crowd.

Detroit City Council President Pro-Tem Mary Sheffield joined the protest march, telling reporters: "If you show solidarity, this what you get — peaceful protests."

Unlike Grand Rapids, Minneapolis and numerous other cities across the country, Detroit's protests had so far largely avoided violence and property damage, although police at times have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds, while making hundreds of arrests over several nights.

More:Activist Tristan Taylor released after being arrested by Detroit police during protests

With police officers and squad cars surrounding the area, Craig told reporters, "I understand the pain. They want their voices heard. So, we're making a decision" to let the march continue until "an appropriate point." 

With that, police fell back and let protesters continue with their expressions of outrage, a nightly occurrence in Detroit and numerous cities for most of the last week. The protesters then turned back toward downtown, with a police helicopter whirling overhead.

As they strutted through Greektown, they stopped at times to dance and cheer, ultimately heading back to their starting point on Michigan Avenue at Third Street, turning what had been confrontational on previous nights into a festive series of unison calls for justice.

The marches in Detroit and elsewhere began just hours after Minnesota authorities announced they'd charged three more officers and increased the charge to second-degree murder against a fourth in the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, an incident that has sparked nationwide protests in many cities, including costly rampages, fires and scattered fatalities.

On Wednesday, for a sixth day, marchers convened in downtown Detroit at their customary starting point near Detroit Public Safety Headquarters, on Third Street at Michigan Avenue, then marched for miles throughout the downtown, again chanting and carrying signs expressing outrage against police brutality, racism and the deaths of American blacks at the hands of police.

Despite temperatures in the low 80s, the event again attracted a large crowd estimated at about 1,000. After several hours of foot-slogging north on Woodward Avenue, back downtown on Cass Avenue and then south on Woodward, the mass of marchers stopped facing East Jefferson and the statue of Joe Louis' clenched fist —  a familiar symbol, when divorced of its link to boxing, of black power and liberal activism.

There the group rested for a time, then for a second night, staged a collective act of defiance of the city's 8 p.m. curfew, marching east on East Jefferson, passing the Renaissance Center just as the clock struck 8. Police, as in the past, did not immediately enforce the curfew but instead trailed behind and alongside the group, as marchers chanted: "No justice, no peace -- f*** these racist police."

A night earlier, more than 100 Detroit's protesters were arrested after they marched east on Gratiot Avenue for 4 miles to French Road, where they ignored repeated warnings to obey the city's 8 p.m. curfew and disperse.

On Wednesday, the group chose a route up Woodward, marching north past Little Caesars Arena, where, on the previous night, police said they processed 127 of those arrested, using the arena's large space to ensure social distancing. A news release from Detroit Police said that Ilitch Holdings, the family-operated owner of the arena, "indicated to us its strong support for the right of people to express their outrage over incidents of hatred, racism and prejudice."

In Minnesota, where a burst of outrage last week turned into a nationwide torrent, state authorities charged three Minneapolis police officers who were fired last week with aiding and abetting murder in connection with Floyd's death; and the murder charge against the fourth, seen in a video as pressing his knee into Floyd's back for 9 minutes, was elevated to second-degree from third-degree, according to wire service reports.

The announcements drew praise from Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said, who called the charges "a major step toward justice," and one that "sends a message to all police officers that they are criminally responsible when they see a crime being committed by a fellow officer against any citizen and fail to protect the victim."

More:Detroit Police Chief James Craig, neighbors speak against outside agitators

Duggan also spoke at a meeting of key Detroit business leaders, held Wednesday at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building auditorium, where Detroit NAACP leader the Rev. Wendell Anthony said: "I don’t remember seeing leaders coming together like this."

Nine executives spoke at the event, ranging from the top leaders of the Detroit Three automakers to key executives of health care institutions, DTE Energy, financial companies and Ilitch Holdings. All expressed determination to see racism and excessive force eliminated from the nation's policing.

Duggan on Sunday imposed a nightly 8 p.m. curfew, calling for peaceable marchers to disperse roughly one hour before sunset. Although many of Detroit's marchers spurned the curfew Tuesday, most did disperse before police in riot gear converged on the group to begin making arrests at about 8:45 p.m.

Across the country, curfews and arrests have done little to deter determined protesters in cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, although protests generally have become less violent and damaging since last weekend. 

In Washington, D.C., retired Marine general and former Defense Secretary James Mattis drew national attention when he castigated President Donald Trump’s handling of the national unrest.

 Mattis, who resigned as Trump's defense secretary in December 2018 over differences in foreign policy, said in a statement to The Atlantic magazine that he was "appalled" by Trump's handling of the protests. His outburst is considered highly unusual for a former cabinet member, when speaking of a sitting president.

Mattis gave a scathing description of Trump's walk to a historic nearby church Monday to pose with a Bible after the president ordered the military to forcibly clear Lafayette Park of mostly peaceful protesters. He said he never dreamed that troops “would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.” 

More:Murky edges of Detroit protests are tearing us apart | Opinion

Detroit's sixth night of protesting began, as on past days, in late afternoon. Speakers, seemingly self-appointed, wielded bullhorns to decry racism, evictions and foreclosures, and to call for continued public shows of outrage. 

Taylor, a key organizer of this week's protests, received cheers as he began speaking. Earlier Wednesday,Taylor had been released from jail after being among the crowd of marchers arrested the night before, according to Detroit Police. The decision to release him came from Chief Craig, who ordered that Taylor be charged with a lesser city ordinance violation, not the original and far more serious charge of inciting a riot.

After marching down Woodward Avenue to the Joe Louis fist, Taylor spoke through a bullhorn to encourage the crowd.

"We know the world is with us," he shouted.  "We have two great examples of our victory today. The first is the second-degree murder charges" announced against the Minneapolis police officer, since terminated, whose act of kneeling on Floyd has been blamed for the dead man's asphyxiation.

"The second expression of our power is that I'm here," Taylor declared, referring to his release from jail. He went on to say that the group should not be intimidated by Mayor Duggan, Chief Craig, or by "whatever pastor, FBI agent (or) federal charges. …

"We are here to make sure real justice is served." He ended by saying he'd stay with anyone willing to defy the city's 8 p.m. curfew.

Moments earlier, march organizer Nakia-Renne Wallace told the group, "There's been a false narrative that the people of Detroit haven't been in these streets fighting for this city." She said Detroit's marchers had the chance to show the world otherwise.

Contact: blaitner@freepress.com. Staff writer Bill Laitner compiled this report. Contributors were staff writers and photographers M.L. Elrick, Ryan Garza, Junfu Han, Branden Hunter, Cary Junior, Mark Kurlyandchik, Adrienne Roberts, Kristen Jordan Shamus and Mandi Wright.