COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The governor of Ohio is calling out the Ohio National Guard and also asking the highway patrol to help enforce laws in Columbus as the mayors of the state capital and Cleveland both announce 10 p.m. curfews following damage to businesses amid protests over the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd.
Gov. Mike DeWine said Saturday that the vast majority of protesters want “simply to be heard” and focus attention on the death of Floyd, a black man who died after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck.
But the governor adds that sadly the calls for justice and change are “being drowned out by a smaller group of violent individuals.” He says that “acts of violence cannot, and will not, be tolerated.”
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther says he believes racism “is a public health and safety crisis” and he wants to see a more equitable city, but “we are now at a point that we can no longer tell who is protesting for change and an end to racism and who has only chaos and destruction in mind.”
Ginther says more than 100 public and private properties in Columbus had been damaged and at least 10 robbed of goods. He says five police officers were injured by thrown bricks or rocks and police vehicles have been set afire.
