The Dallas city manager has lifted the 7 p.m. curfew in the city's center effective Saturday.
The curfew has been in place for most of the week in Downtown Dallas and the surrounding neighborhoods, including Trinity Groves. Each night the curfew began at 7 p.m. and ended at 6 a.m. the next day.
City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced Saturday that he lifted the curfew after consulting the police chief and Dallas City Council.
“We heard feedback from residents ready to open and conduct business in central Dallas and we agree it’s time," Broadnax said in a written statement. "The City of Dallas and the Dallas Police Department continue to respect and protect the rights of peaceful demonstrators.
He also encouraged people to stay home as much as possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The county has seen record numbers of new daily cases as businesses have reopened and testing has increased.
The Dallas City Council met for more than eight hours Friday evening during a special called session to discuss the protests and police reforms.
Hundreds of speakers told council members that Dallas police officers had gone too far during a demonstration Monday night that ended with more than 600 people cuffed with zip ties on Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
Dallas police Chief Renee Hall initially said she would file misdemeanor charges against all 674 people, saying they obstructed the thoroughfare, but later announced she reversed her decision.
Many called for her removal as the city's top cop during public comment Friday.
Atatiana Jefferson’s nephew attends Royse City protest
A few hundred people were in Royse City Saturday for a Black Lives Matter protest. Among them, was Atatiana Jefferson's nephew and Mark Hughes, the man falsely identified as a suspect for the July 7th shooting, where five officers were killed in downtown Dallas.
Jefferson's 8-year-old nephew, Zion was in the room when she was shot and killed by a Fort Worth police officer in October.
Hughes spoke at the protest and said he was targeted for being a black man.
'We've been doing this already'
"We've been doing this already. We're just putting this on paper," Mata said of the reforms.
Among the changes is a written policy requiring officers to intervene if they see police brutality or wrongdoing. Mata said all officers are already taught to do this.
"You have a responsibility to protect the citizen's rights, the Constitutional rights of every citizen and that includes the individuals that we arrest. that's called professional integrity," he said. "If they're not already doing it, then we need to fire them."
He also said the department has banned choke holds since 2004.
"If the chief has to put it on paper and the citizens have to see it on a piece of paper, that's fine," Mata said.
He also said that he doesn't agree with protesters that police departments should be defunded.
Mata said doing away with police would give the "green light" to wrongdoing.
"You're going to have rioting every single night and nobody's going to be safe, so watch what you ask for," he said.
Many activists recommend reducing spending on police departments but not doing away with them entirely.
Watch the full interview:
Dallas mayor reacts to protests
A police officer kept his knee on Floyd's neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds. Ministers prayed Saturday morning for that length of time.
Johnson said he has been encouraged to see an ethnically-diverse group of protesters turn up at demonstrations across the city.
He said for years it has been mostly black people protesting and demanding police reform.
Dallas mayor shares feelings about George Floyd's death during prayer service
"There were a few nonblack people saying black lives matter, but for the most part, the real push to bring criminal justice reform in this country... has been pushed by activists who are primarily African American and elected officials who are primarily African American," Johnson said. "These protests though suggest that maybe just maybe, that has changed."
More on WFAA:
- 'This black mother understands the fire' | TIME unveils magazine cover following George Floyd's death
- Protesters balance fight for racial justice with coronavirus' spread
- Student protest exceeds expectations, draws hundreds of supporters in Mansfield
- New Dallas police policies called 'first step' on long journey to change