Orange County residents no longer under curfew

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County leaders lifted it’s 10 p.m. curfew Monday, saying it was no longer needed.

Orange County Mayor Demings made the announcement during a regularly scheduled coronavirus briefing.

“I am going to terminate for the unincorporated area,” Demings said. “All of those cities, except in Orlando we’re terminating the order that was put in place so there will not be a nice curve going forward.”

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer lifted the city-wide curfew shortly after.

The curfew, which went into effect May 31, was to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, according to Demings.

The curfew was issued shortly after the first weekend of protests in the county, with crowds demanding justice in the death of George Floyd, a man killed in Minneapolis in police custody.

Businesses and shops were vandalized and broken into the first night of protests on May 29. Stores that were broken into near the Mall at Millennia were boarded up for nearly a week.

Leaders issued the county-wide curfew as hours-long protests continued to pop up throughout the Orlando area, attendance numbers growing into the thousands.

“With demonstrators wearing face masks and social distancing, there is no need to continue the curfew,” the county posted on Twitter.

After the second weekend of protests, Orlando police say officers did not make a single arrest. The department says demonstrations were largely peaceful even with a crowd of more than 10,000 people.