COLORADO SPRINGS — Monday morning, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers decided not to extend the five day curfew, crediting both the demonstrators and the Colorado Springs Police Department and their ability to peacefully coexist the past five days.
When I spoke with some of the demonstrators on Monday, they were generally in agreement that it was a good decision, but regardless of how big the protests are from here on out, curfew or not, they will continue to push for change when it comes to social injustice, economic inequality, police brutality and racism.
Matthew told me "We've done our best to stay peaceful and I think we have successfully done that but at the same time, we are here to make people uncomfortable so they pay attention and listen to that we've got as a message."
Monday was the tenth day of the protests, but there have not been any violent late night confrontations between police and demonstrators for the length of the curfew, which went in to effect last Wednesday.
"Chanay" says "We had a curfew because a lot of people were protesting and everything else right, but where still protesting everyday and everything seems peaceful now, but what about what's going to happen next week".
And for Jamie, another demonstrator who has spent time each day downtown,
"I feel like it puts a lot of trust in us, it puts a lot of trust in us as protestors, puts a lot of trust in the police force, knowing that this is going to be continuing on peacefully."
For downtown business owners, a sigh of relief, the curfew was just another in a series of setbacks that they must figure out a way to overcome, they told me it's tough, but they are confident, this is a step forward.
Adam Hiles is the Assistant General Manager at Jose Muldoon's, across from Acacia Park.
"I think everyone's been cooped up for so long their excited to kinda get to hang out for as long as they want, so i think that's a good thing."
A couple of blocks to the south on Tejon, Marty Troy, the General Manager at Jack Quinns says,
downtown is open, so "Come down and say hi, go to the mom and pop stores go for the locally owned ones, its just help us all out, we're going to get through this."
Inside Colorado Springs city hall, where the demonstrations have been a fixture since the death of George Floyd, a move to advance the cause of the demonstrations. Councilman Wayne Williams has been working with Promise Lee, a leader in the local african american community, on what is called for the time being, The Colorado Springs Police Accountability Advisory Committee, a long title for sure, but a short, sharp focus, "How do we make things better."
Williams told me "We all want to work together to ensure they're not deaths of officers, and that they're arent deaths of citizens and i think there's a shared goal on."
Williams says this has been in the works since March, when he attended a conference with Promise Lee in Austin, Texas, this is not something that just arose from the death of George Floyd or the local demonstrations, "That will look at police practices, information, transparency thats on the website and other things like that and then to make suggestions for how that could be improved."
Councilman Williams says that a work session has been moved up to Thursday of this week rather than the end of June due to the urgency of this issue. He says they can only make recommendations to the Mayor and CSPD and go from there.
As for the curfew, Mayor Suthers says they will continue to monitor the situation downtown and that it can be implemented again, if necessary.
