Major US cities are lifting their curfews as protesters continue to gather across the country

• Big cities like Dallas, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, have lifted their curfews as protesters continue to gather as a result of George Floyd's death.
• Many of the cities are lifting their curfews because of the peaceful nature of the protests, but others are only reopening after activist groups filed lawsuits against them.
• Activist groups are currently threatening to sue New York City if it doesn't lift its curfew.
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Activists are continuing to protest against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death throughout the country.

Over the last week, many cities implemented curfews to discourage protesters from gathering at night, leading to a number of violent clashes with police in recent days.

But the tide of curfews changed over the weekend, with a myriad of big cities lifting their curfews on Saturday.

Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Sacramento, California; Columbus, Ohio; and San Antonio, Texas, all lifted their curfews for a variety of reasons on Saturday, giving protesters the opportunity to demonstrate peacefully after dark.

Dallas lifted its curfew after six days to give the businesses the opportunity to reopen, according to a statement from city manager T.C. Broadnax. 

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms gave no reason for lifting the city's curfew on Saturday, and she has yet to make a decision on whether or not the city will reinstate the curfew on Sunday.

Meanwhile, San Antonio decided to end its curfew because the city's protests had been peaceful, according to a tweet from the city's official account. 

The Sacramento City Council also voted to lift its curfew and end its the National Guard deployment in the city because of how peaceful its demonstrations had been.

"The peaceful and powerful demonstrations of the past five days have given me confidence that these measures, which we imposed reluctantly, are no longer needed," Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in a statement.

Columbus, on the other hand, lifted its curfew the day after a federal lawsuit was filed against the city, as Ohio WFMJ's reported.

The lawsuit alleged the curfew was unjust because vandalism in the city had become less frequent even as protests continued. 

It's becoming increasingly common for groups to sue cities as a result of the protest curfews.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has even threatened to sue New York City if officials don't lift the curfew, which makes it illegal for non-essential workers to be out past 8 p.m. 

The NYC curfew hasn't deterred protesters, and large crowds continued to gather in both Manhattan and Brooklyn throughout the week.

• Read more:
• Curfews can be effective in preventing looting and violence amid social unrest but opponents say they give police too much power
• Nashville's protest of thousands was organized by 6 teenagers who met on Twitter united by their outrage over George Floyd's death
• How 7 days of US protests over the death of George Floyd spiraled into chaos and deadly violence
• Governor Gavin Newsom and California state representatives call for a ban of controversial neck hold used by police

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