George Floyd Protests: 14 Arrests After New Earlier Curfew for Downtown Orlando, Police Say

Police said 14 people were arrested after the 8 p.m. curfew in downtown Orlando on Wednesday night, the first night after officials moved the curfew two hours earlier for the city’s core.

An 18-year-old woman was stunned with a Taser by police after they said she struck two uniformed officers, and an 18-year-old man arrested after the curfews was found to be carrying several concealed knives, police said.

Police did not use smoke or tear gas, the Police Department said in its daily update. Meanwhile, an officer lost consciousness outside OPD Headquarters, possibly due to heat and dehydration, and was taken to a hospital.

It was the fifth day of downtown protests in response to the death of George Floyd. The Minneapolis man was recorded pleading that he could not breathe as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Floyd later died and the video has sparked nationwide unrest.

The large majority of protesters have been peaceful, with thousands demonstrating with signs and chants.

However, there have been conflicts between protesters and police after dark, with police on several occasions having used tear gas. Officials have said that followed officers being pelted with objects like rocks and bottles.

As of OPD’s Thursday update, which covered protests Saturday through Wednesday, 104 people had been arrested, with disorderly conduct the most common charge, a spreadsheet distributed by the agency showed.

Police have, however, flagged incidents in which people among the crowds or out in the city after curfew were carrying dangerous objects — like hammers, crowbars, rocks and flammable liquids — or are accused of battering officers.

Four members of law enforcement had been injured as of an update Wednesday evening, several patrol cars have been damaged, and the a pair of OPD offices were vandalized, the agency said, sharing a photo of a smashed glass door at the Parramore Bikes office.

The Tower of Light statue at City Hall was also defaced by graffiti, police said.

jeweiner@orlandosentinel.com

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