DC homeowner ushers 70 protesters inside for the night to protect them from curfew arrests
Dozens of protesters spent the night in a stranger's Washington, DC, home after he opened his door to protect them from being arrested for violating the city's curfew.
Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a 7 p.m to 6 a.m. citywide curfew on Monday in response to the sometimes violent protests against police brutality following the death of George Floyd last week in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
One protester told CNN that the crowd was marching away from the White House on Monday evening and wound up in a residential neighborhood where they were boxed in by police.
The protester, who asked to be identified only as Meka, told CNN the protest was peaceful and people were just trying to figure out what to do.
"I guess someone gave an order, and they just started pushing us, spraying mace, trampling people, and then that's when everybody started panicking," the 22-year-old college senior said.
He looked around and saw his friend running up the steps into nearby home and a man waving for protesters to come in.
"I just ran towards the steps ran up the steps and just started to get inside as quick as possible," Meka said. "In the moment, I didn't know if it was the right decision, but I guess it was."
He said he looked out the window and saw more police officers than he could count and that many people were arrested outside.
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Meka told CNN that he was not able to get any sleep Monday night and that police tried several times to get the protesters to come outside.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/dc-protesters-sheltered-trnd/index.html
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