George Floyd Protests: Santa Rosa Police Make 27 Arrests As Demonstrators Get Unruly
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- Police arrested 27 people in Santa Rosa Monday night after George Floyd demonstrators threw bottles at officers and violated the dusk-to-dawn curfew, authorities said.
Monday's demonstrations began around midday on Old Courthouse Square and included marching throughout downtown and elsewhere in the city to protest the Memorial Day in-custody death Floyd in Minneapolis.
Santa Rosa police said that at about 5:15 p.m., a group of the protesters went onto northbound U.S. Highway 101 south of Steele Lane and California Highway Patrol officers arrested several people who refused to leave the highway. Others marched back to the Old Courthouse Square.
Those who remained into the evening, police said, were "more confrontational with law enforcement and passing vehicles." Many ignored the officers warning of the 8 p.m. curfew the city had instituted to stem the looting and vandalism that has been seen around the Bay Area related to the demonstrations.
By 9 p.m., the group threatened to go back onto northbound Highway 101 and went along various streets, with some protesters throwing bottles at officers, before they ended up back at Old Courthouse Square.
People began scattering throughout downtown, with some throwing ]rocks and breaking windows of businesses along College Avenue and others throwing rocks and bottles at officers and patrol vehicles, according to police.
At 10:53 p.m., Santa Rosa police gave dispersal orders and people who did not comply were taken into custody.
Of the 27 arrested, 17 were adults and 10 were juveniles. One was from Petaluma and all other 26 were Santa residents.
Francisco Javier Orozco, 30, of Santa Rosa, was arrested for allegedly shooting business windows with a pellet gun. No one was injured in the shooting.