Police SUVs and military transports continued to block a major downtown Salt Lake City street Monday morning, two days after protests stemming from police violence in Minneapolis turned violent.
Hours after a citywide curfew lifted at 6 a.m., Salt Lake City police and Utah National Guard troops were stationed along 400 South between State Street and 400 East. The military vehicles blocked eastbound traffic next to Washington Square and Library Square, and near the police department, the focal point of Saturday’s protests.
Besides law enforcement, few people were seen walking in the area.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall instituted the unprecedented blanket curfew Saturday evening, after a police car and another car — driven by a man who was seen on video pointing a bow and arrow at protesters — were overturned and burned. Gov. Gary Herbert activated the Utah National Guard to support police efforts to enforce the curfew.
Police announced Sunday they had arrested 46 people Saturday night, most of them cited for failing to disperse.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown praised officers Monday for their handling of Saturday’s violence.
“I’ve been doing this job 29 years. I have never seen officers come together and put their lives on the line to protect life in the violence that they faced,” Brown said Monday on X96’s “Radio From Hell” show. “I couldn’t be prouder as a police chief.”
Military vehicles were also parked Monday on the corners of State Street and South Temple, by City Creek Center, and State Street and 100 South, in front of the AT&T offices.
City Creek Center, a target for graffiti sprayers, remained closed Monday for cleanup, according to the shopping complex’s website. The shopping center’s heavy glass doors are backed by plywood.
Further north, at the Utah State Capitol, another site for Saturday protests, Sunday’s clean-up efforts left practically no trace of the graffiti left behind on the granite approach to the building’s steps.
On the Capitol lawn, Derek Mitchell of Salt Lake City — wearing a face mask to guard against spread of the coronavirus and a hand-lettered “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt — picked up bits of litter left around the grounds. He said other protesters were planning similar clean-up efforts elsewhere downtown.
Mitchell said he carried a sign on the street Saturday, one of the many protesters driving and marching near police headquarters. Specifically, they protested the death of George Floyd, whose death — a Minneapolis police officer placed his knee on his neck for more than 8 minutes — was captured on video last week.
The Salt Lake City protest was meant to be peaceful, Mitchell said. As it went on in the late May heat, though, “it kinda got hijacked” by people seeking to do violence.
Salt Lake County Attorney Sim Gill joined 39 other elected prosecutors nationwide in a statement condemning Floyd’s death — and urging changes to put an end to “racially biased policing and police use of excessive force.”
Gill, in a statement sent to media Monday, cited “a long-standing history and practice in this country of the state perpetrating violent abuse against, and painful neglect for, communities and people of color. Only by working actively to rid our society and systems of structural racism will we be able to meaningfully start down the path of justice for our most alienated brothers and sisters.”
The prosecutors’ statement lists 19 proposed policy changes, including: Creating national databases to track documented cases of police misconduct and records of dangerous officers; repealing laws that shield police records from the public; revisit practices that allow police departments to become militarized; and having candidates running for prosecutor offices refuse donations or endorsements from police departments or police unions.
Salt Lake City police have posted photos on social media from the moment during Saturday’s protests when several people started to flip and then burn the police cruiser. Police are asking the public to help identify about half a dozen people who were on the scene.
We need help to identify the individuals in the attached pictures. We would like to speak with them regarding the flipping, vandalism, and burning of a Salt Lake City Police car. If you know who they are, please call 801-799-3000 and reference case 20-94360. pic.twitter.com/WzRBvQetKv
— SLC Police Dept. (@slcpd) May 31, 2020
“Law enforcement agencies are working hard to identify those who were at the heart of taking a peaceful protests & turning it into violent vandalism,” police posted on the Salt Lake City police’s Twitter account Sunday night.
Salt Lake City police and the Utah Department of Public Safety have launched a web portal for people to share photos and videos, or to provide tips: crimetips.utah.gov.
The Salt Lake Tribune will update this story.
