Business Owners Say Curfew a Day Too Late

A citywide curfew is in place for Raleigh from 8 P.M. Monday until 5 A.M. Tuesday. The curfew will last until further notice. The move comes after two nights of peaceful protests in downtown Raleigh deteriorated into vandalism and looting.

Small businesses took the brunt of the violence. "We’re just hurt and devastated by what’s happened to downtown," says Alan Horwitz, a third generation owner of Reliable Jewelry and Loan. His family business saw looting Saturday and again Sunday.

Horwitz tells us the new curfew is too little, too late, "Absolutely, i just feel they knew this was coming… I think something should have been done earlier. More enforcement, the national guard."

In a statement announcing the curfew, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin wrote, "My hope is that this will allow our community to pause, collect ourselves, begin to repair the damage, and turn our focus to the more important work of finding connection and commonality. We need to come together peacefully and as one community."

The curfew does not pertain to emergency workers or journalists. A city spokesperson says the expectation is grocery stores and restaurants across the city would close at 8 P.M. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and fined.

"It’s a difficult decision," admits Raleigh Mayor Pro Tem Corey Branch. While he supports the protest message, he feels a curfew is one tool to quell violence, "We have to have some sense of order in the sense of how do we handle our rage."

While Horwitz welcomes the curfew, even though it’s too late, he also questions why law enforcement wasn’t more proactive to protect businesses that were repeatedly targeted by rioters, "where were you when there when we were getting broken into?"