Mayor Duggan responds to Saturday night’s Downtown Detroit protest, new curfew set 

DETROIT - There was a total of 84 people arrested Saturday night. Mayor Mike Duggan said 75% are from outside the city of Detroit. 2 were from other states, Ohio and Tennessee. 

“This about the person who drove up from Nashville Tennessee, more than 500 miles. How many police departments are within 500 miles of Nashville that have a lot more troubled history?” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said. 

The mayor said evidence points to a group of outsiders causing trouble, and doing so in coordination. 

“There is a small group of people operating here, who are intent on initiating destruction and violence,” Mayor Duggan said. “They’re very well organized with walkie talkies and commands. They’ve got supply vehicles bringing them rocks and bottles and fireworks to shoot at police.”

In Detroit, a curfew is now in place from 8pm until 5am. People coming to and from work are exempt. Busses will still run on their normal schedules.

“When we see even higher levels of arrests from outside the city, and most disturbingly now from other states, I have to act,” Mayor Duggan said. 

Once again, the protest was peaceful Saturday night, but as the hours wore on, turned violent. 

The mayor says there was a Major confrontation first at police headquarters, and unrest spread through the city past 2am. 

Tear gas once again deployed, after repeated calls from some Detroit activists for folks to disband.