WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - The mayor of a North Carolina city has imposed a curfew in the narrow area surrounding two Confederate monuments to try to thwart any vandalism or destruction.
The curfew in the city of Wilmington applies from 7:30 p.m. through 7 a.m. in the immediate area around two Confederate statues in the city. The curfew began Saturday night and lasts five nights.
City officials were reacting to the toppling of two Confederate statues Friday night in Raleigh.
In an emergency proclamation announcing the curfew, Mayor Bill Saffo said that “recent events have shown that some individuals have sought to incite criminal civil unrest and their actions now pose an imminent threat of severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property to the City of Wilmington.”
The Wilmington Star-News reports that two men were charged last week with damaging public property after one of the memorials was spray painted with a swastika and the initials “BLM.”
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