Muriel Bowser, D.C. mayor, orders two more nights of curfew for the city

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday implemented a 7 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew that will be enforced through Wednesday morning, while protesters demonstrated over a black man’s death in police custody in Minneapolis for the fourth consecutive day in the nation’s capital.

Miss Bowser said she empathizes with the demonstrators’ cause, but she decried the violence and destruction committed by rioters in the District and in other cities across the country.

“Every single American should be outraged by the murder of George Floyd,” the mayor said at a morning press conference. “However, smashed windows and looting are becoming a bigger story than the broken systems that got us here.”

Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham said officers on Sunday arrested 88 people, two-thirds of whom were charged with felonies, including 44 charged with felony rioting.

“This is an inconvenient decision for many of the people who live here and work here in the District of Columbia,” Chief Newsham said of the curfew. “This will disrupt your lives. This was a decision that was forced upon us by the behavior of the people who are intent on coming to our city and destroying property and hurting people.”

Officials said the curfew will not affect Tuesday’s primary election. Polls are set to close at 8 p.m., and essential workers and credentialed media are exempt.

Miss Bowser had imposed an 11 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew on Sunday, but rioting, vandalism and property damage still occurred in parts of the city.

Rioting damage on Sunday night included a small fire in the lobby of the AFL-CIO building, broken windows at the Department of Veteran Affairs building and a fire at St. John’s Church — an Episcopal church in Lafayette Square where every sitting president since James Madison has attended at least one service.

A few hundred protesters on Monday gathered at Lafayette Square across from the White House by mid-afternoon. Another group assembled outside the Capitol building, and more were expected in the evening.

Shortly after 5 p.m., several military vehicles with active-duty troops entered the White House grounds.

As protests commenced Monday, construction workers boarded up St. John’s front doors and first-floor windows.

The Rev. Rob Fisher, the rector of St. John’s, said the damage was limited to the church’s nursery and was “relatively” repairable.

“The nursery is accessible from a semi-underground door, an emergency door that they busted open and the window and opened it up. And they really lit it up,” Mr. Fisher said.

Some clergy from the church handed out water to the protesters Monday, with a sign that read “Free Water and Prayers.” Mr. Fisher said the church planned a vigil for Monday afternoon with faith leaders from St. John’s and other churches.

“We support the cause,” Mr. Fisher said of the protests. “We’re aware that there are a lot of different intentions that are going on right now. But the core message is a message that we need to support.”

Protests have erupted across the nation in response to Mr. Floyd’s death. His arrest was caught on camera last Monday and he could be heard saying “I can’t breathe” while a white officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes. Mr. Chauvin was charged Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

In Richmond, police arrested more than 200 people on Sunday, the first night of an 8 p.m. curfew that was imposed after some protesters had smashed windows, vandalized businesses and set a police car and a city bus on fire in earlier demonstrations.

What’s more, a man who was hit by gunfire while riding in a car near protesters early Sunday morning remained hospitalized for a life-threatening gunshot wound, police said. Gunfire from behind the car struck the man as he passed through protesters.

In Baltimore, police made more than a dozen arrests of protesters who marched by the hundreds through the city in protest.

City leaders had pleaded for calm Saturday, seeking to avoid the violence that pervaded protests in the city five years ago in response to the in-custody death of Freddie Gray. The city largely avoided the large-scale violence that gripped some other cities.

χ This article is based in part on wire service reports.