CLEVELAND — During a Facebook Live held early Sunday morning, Mayor Frank Jackson and Chief of Police Calvin Williams addressed the violence and destruction in Cleveland Saturday night and said many of the vandals and rioters were "people who do not reside in the city of Cleveland or in this area."
Jackson and Williams started by thanking the protesters who remained peaceful during the demonstration.
The mayor said that city workers will be brought in Sunday to help clean up the destruction and crews to assess the damage to Cleveland buildings and businesses.
A curfew was issued Saturday night from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. Sunday morning. The curfew will be effective again Sunday afternoon from 12 p.m. until 8 a.m. Monday in downtown Cleveland.
Motorists and people on foot are not permitted to be in the city and officers will be patrolling the area to enforce the order, Williams said.
People who work downtown are advised to take off if they can, Wiliams said.
Williams said that the destruction is believed to be from people out of town, but he did not say why the police department thinks this is the case.
“We know a lot of the things that happened today were people who do not reside in the city of Cleveland or in this area,” Williams said. “There’s tons of video footage of a lot of things that happened and we have investigators as we speak that are going through that footage to identify folks so that we can bring them to justice.”
Williams said some officers were injured, some struck by objects thrown at them, but none of the injuries were serious. He also said he was aware of multiple civilian injuries treated by Cleveland EMS.
What started as a peaceful protest against police violence and racial injustices in the city of Cleveland on Saturday afternoon turned into a riot after agitators escalated the situation, throwing objects at police and inciting violence.
Police responded to the violence with chemical deterrents, which also impacted the peaceful protesters. Vandals and looters then began smashing cars and windows of businesses across the downtown area, spray painting buildings and uprooting plants. Parked police cruisers were attacked and caught fire.
To watch the full Facebook Live, at which no media members appeared to be present, click here.
RELATED: The moment when a group of agitators changed the tenor of what had been a peaceful assembly
