The city of Atlanta is lifting a curfew previously announced for the night of June 6 amid local confusion and national controversy over such shutdowns of public places.
The city has been under nightly curfews imposed by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms since May 31 in the wake of George Floyd protests.
Bottoms had to clarify earlier this week that the curfew would not be enforced on people attempting to early-vote for the June 9 primary and special elections. On June 3, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California filed a lawsuit seeking to lift curfews in the city and county of Los Angeles on behalf of protesters and journalists, saying such shutdowns are unconstitutional suppression of rights to free speech, assembly and movement.
In a June 6 statement, the ACLU of Georgia indicated it had similar concerns about the Atlanta curfews.
“We want to thank Mayor Bottoms for standing on the side of freedom of speech, expression and assembly by lifting the curfew,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, in the statement. “We hope that the mayor continues to stand with Atlanta’s tradition of protecting First Amendment rights.”