The controversial statue of former mayor and police commissioner Frank Rizzo was quietly removed in the predawn hours Wednesday, following a day of peaceful protests in Philadelphia.

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» READ MORE: Live coverage for June 3

The city on Tuesday was a political battleground in the presidential campaign, while more than a thousand demonstrators gathered, marched, and danced peacefully in Philadelphia for several hours to protest the killing of George Floyd.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivered a televised speech to the nation at City Hall in the morning, then won the postponed Pennsylvania primary later in the evening.

In a stark contrast to the chaos of the previous three days, protesters chanted and sang and even dribbled basketballs around City Hall, in Old City, in West Philadelphia, and near a police station in Fishtown, where an ad hoc group armed with baseball bats had appeared the day before. Some protesters and police shook hands and knelt together.

Protests on the Main Line, in Cherry Hill, and at the Shore also were peaceful, as was a march on 52nd Street in West Philadelphia. At least one person was arrested late Tuesday afternoon in Philadelphia, and police reported 703 arrests since widespread protests and looting erupted in the city on Saturday.

Read more of our coverage of today’s events:

Among the arrests Tuesday was one that resulted from a confrontation between a bike officer and a woman at the protest, and ended with the officer tackling the woman.

The incident happened during a march past 10th and Market Streets late Tuesday afternoon. The woman tapped the officer’s bike with her right foot as they passed, according to video provided by a person at the march.

The officer responded by grabbing the woman’s hoodie and confronting her about touching his bike. She responded with profanity and the officer tackled her. Other police made a ring around the arrest with their bicycles.

Police did not respond to questions about what the woman was charged with, or the tackle the officer involved used to take her into custody. The officer was not identified.

— Aubrey Whelan

The Philadelphia Police Department has made 703 arrests since widespread protests and looting erupted in the city on Saturday.

The department reported late Tuesday night on its Twitter account that the arrests include 11 for assaults on police, three for firearms violations, 192 for looting and burglary, six for theft, one for rioting, and one for vandalism.

The police also said there were 488 arrests for offenses such as curfew violations and failing to disperse, and one arrest for “propulsion of missile.”

— Robert Moran

Following a four-hour peaceful march along routes 38 and 70 in Cherry Hill, protesters were greeted by a line of New Jersey State Police protecting the Cherry Hill Mall. The protesters knelt and chanted for the troopers to “take a knee” and shouting George Floyd’s name. The troopers remained standing, and after a half-hour standoff, most of the protesters left, yelling, “You had your chance! Peace starts with you!”

Among a handful of protesters who remained, Shakeeya Summers, 35, of Cherry Hill shouted at the line of troopers, “My baby said, ‘Momma, I don’t want to be black no more.’”

After another half hour, the troopers marched away, and left on a bus, and Karen Cutts, 51, of Haddon Heights approached Summers’ 6-year old son, Gregory James, and, after asking permission, told him, “You are loved. Your life matters.”

Cutts then went to Sunmers, crying, “I am so sorry, I am so sorry you have to go through all this. It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all.” Cutts, who is white, then hugged Summer, who is black, and continued, “My heart breaks for you and every other mother. I know you’ve been suffering for so long and it needs to stop.”

Cutts’ 16-year-old daughter Megan then told James he was “beautiful.”

— Tom Gralish

The city’s curfew, part of an executive order from Mayor Jim Kenney, went into effect 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in response to protests and subsequent vandalism and looting in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Protesters have already ignored previous curfews, and gathered in groups of hundreds and thousands at places across the city.

— Frank Kummer

Speaking through a small megaphone as the crowd slowly dispersed, Lauren Coursey, 26, of Southwest Philadelphia, cautioned protesters to get back to City Hall safely and get home before the curfew.

She had been leading protesters through the megaphone on the march, and two came up to compliment her afterward for keeping their spirits and energy high.

She hadn’t organized the protest. “I’m just a black woman upset,” she said.

Protesters had worked throughout the march to keep each other safe, urging each other to stay together and avoid engaging police.

She said she wanted to bring attention to the voiceless during an hours-long march that wound through Center City and West Philly.

“I’m not down for the rioting,” she said, though she added stolen Nikes were less precious than a stolen life. “The rest of society [needs to] know we’re not here for a ruckus, not here to break things. We’re here to cause attention, and justice for those who can’t speak for themselves.”

She was exhausted after walking miles for hours on Tuesday. But the day had been “a beautiful moment.”

“We need to have a beautiful ending,” she said, and turned for home.

— Aubrey Whelan

Hundreds of protesters marching from Center City stopped in University City Tuesday evening and knelt for nine minutes in silence to mark the time a police officer in Minneapolis knelt on the neck of George Floyd.

The ever-moving crowd stopped on the 3800 block of Walnut Street in front of the President’s House.

Some chanted, “UPenn pull your funding” and “Silence is violence.”

The group then chanted, “Say his name, George Floyd.”Organizers then asked the group to kneel for nine minutes. The scene remained peaceful.

Finally, the group began to move once again. Some of the protesters had been walking for hours. An 8:30 p.m. city-imposed curfew loomed.

One man with a megaphone announced: “I’m out. I’m going to bed … Anybody give me a ride?” Those still marching turned around, heading back on Walnut Street toward Center City.

— Maddie Hanna

A day after the Philadelphia Police Department used tear gas against protesters who had gathered on Interstate 676, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told the 6,500 members of her department in an email that all uses of force must be reported via police radio, in addition to a written report after the fact, “to ensure we can properly defend our actions when we are ultimately challenged.”

The email, sent Tuesday and obtained by The Inquirer, also encourages officers to “be diligent in collecting any evidence that supports our actions, as well as successful prosecutions going forward.”

Outlaw’s message, first reported by WHYY, comes as some elected officials questioned the department’s approach in handling the hundreds of demonstrators who breached the active highway a day earlier.

In her email, the commissioner — who defended the use of tear gas at a news conference earlier Tuesday — called that decision “deliberate and deemed necessary for safety for both officers and those protesters who swarmed the interstate highway.”

In addition, Outlaw instructed her officers to grant reporters “reasonable access” during the ongoing unrest and ensuing curfews. At least four journalists — from The Inquirer, WHYY, and two from the Wilmington News-Journal — have been taken into custody during the demonstrations.

“Please remember,” Outlaw wrote, “the press are not only entitled to access, they have a right to it.”

— Chris Palmer

The Ben Franklin Bridge has been reopened after being closed for about an hour while protesters marched in Center City.

— Robert Moran

The large demonstration that had marched through Center City for hours crossed the Schuylkill River shortly before 7:30 p.m. and into University City.

Protest chants and raised fists continued, as did the relative calm of the demonstration. There were brief moments of tension during the all-afternoon march, with least one person being detained by police. It was unclear what the person was being detained for, and protesters decried police and questioned the arrest.

Energy seemed to be waning, though, as the group crossed the Schuylkill and the city’s 8:30 p.m. curfew neared, and the crowd began thinning.

— Maddie Hanna

Sam Cohen and his business partners Ziggy Nozile and Chris Dickson, of the Top Tomato pizza store, handed out pizza to protesters on Walnut Street.

”[George Floyd’s killing] was wrong from the beginning and I hope it is not going to happen again,” Cohen said.

Dickson and Nozile said the partners wanted to support their community.

“We are in business because of them, the people. We are for the people. Always,” Nozile said.

— Aubrey Whelan

By 6:45 p.m., two distinct groups of demonstrators circulated through Center City. One stayed close to City Hall. The other filled the streets of Old City.

Compared to the ugly clashes with police during the past three days, Tuesday’s protest marches were relatively calm. Chants echoed off the city’s buildings, but by early evening police and protesters stayed side-by-side without conflict.

The Center City group was on one knee at John F. Kennedy Boulevard and 15th Street as residents along 3rd Street cheered on the crowd there.

— Maddie Hanna, Oona Goodin-Smith

A crowd of protesters in Fishtown swelled to at least 250 people Tuesday near the 26th police distric where a group of men armed with baseball bats roamed Monday.

Protesters are standing in the middle of the intersection at Girard and Montgomery Avenues in front of a line of about 100 police, many with batons drawn and helmets on.

One person threw a plastic cup at police. Otherwise, protesters chanted, clapped and held signs. Behind the police were several dozen onlookers, some of whom chanted “All Lives Matter.”

At about 6:30 p.m., a Sheriff’s Office bus arrived.

» READ MORE: Philly police stood by as men with baseball bats “protected” Fishtown. Some residents were assaulted and threatened.

— Anna Orso

Attorney Larry Krasner stood outside City Hall Tuesday afternoon, greeting demonstrators, while around the corner along Market Street, police with their badge numbers covered with black tape stood batons in hand.

“Protesting is not a crime. We are not going to charge you for protesting,” he said.

But, he added, “if we see vigilante-type behavior, beating people up, if we see crimes or the illegal possession of guns ... we are going to charge and prosecute that.”

He said his office was investigating multiple reports of terroristic threats and two separate beatings that took place in Fishtown yesterday, as well as reports of people with guns at the Target in South Philadelphia.

He said almost all arrests in connection with the protests had been summary citations that do not involve the DA’s office. Police have brought him about 200 cases of felonies including burglary related to looting, but no arson charges as of Tuesday despite the numerous fires set around the city.

Krasner said that most people who were charged in connection with looting were 18 to 23, and surprisingly had no criminal record.

— Samantha Melamed

The Ben Franklin Bridge was closed again Tuesday evening as protesters marched through Center City.

— Robert Moran

By 6:30 p.m. the massive group of demonstrators had come to Old City, filling the entirety of Race Street, and then 3rd Street, from sidewalk to sidewalk. The chants of “Hands up. Don’t shoot,” continued.

Justin Nsaih, 21, who just graduated from Temple with a finance degree, says he’s lived in a few different states but that the discrimination black people in America face doesn’t change.

“I’m here because my people are oppressed,” he said.

He had attended the protest on 676 the day before, where cops sprayed tear gas and pepper spray and protesters were trapped against a fence. It made him even more determined to attend Tuesday’s peaceful protest.

“If you want to see change, you have to be uncomfortable.” he said. There were moments of joy in the march, too, like the dancing outside City Hall. Nsaih and his twin brother Damion, also a finance student, saw two high school classmates in the crowd that they hadn’t seen in years.

“Congratulations on graduating!” they yelled to each other, grinning behind their masks.

“This is healing for a lot of people, too,” Nsaih said. “To see people who look like us and who don’t look like us fighting for one cause makes us feel like what we do isn’t going unseen.”

— Aubrey Whelan, Oona Goodin-Smith

Crowds of protesters moved around Philadelphia Tuesday evening before the city’s 8:30 p.m. curfew took effect with the number swelling to more than 1,000 as they criss-crossed the historic area.

It marked the fourth day crowds had gathered in protest of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.

The crowd, though sizable, was peaceful and did not encounter any major confrontations with police like Monday night when a group was tear gassed.

— Oona Goodin-Smith and Samantha Melamed

A separate protest at City Hall included protesters repeating the names of people killed by police.

But as it progressed, it took on a nearly celebratory vibe. Participants did line dancing and chanted,

“Donald Trump ain’t sh--.” Nearby, people played a haunting drone on singing bowls. National Guard troops stood watch. A few police kneeled with the crowd.

— Aubrey Whelan

Citing George Floyd’s death, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Tuesday the state will update its guidelines governing the use of force by police for the first time in two decades and will move to require a statewide licensing program for all officers.

“To the thousands of New Jerseyans that assembled peacefully this week let me be clear: we hear you, we see you, we respect you, we share your anger and we share your commitment to change,” Grewal said during a news conference alongside Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

At least 43 other states require some licensing requirement for officers, Grewal said, adding he wants to bring law enforcement inline with other professions that require licensing, like doctors and lawyers.

» READ MORE: N.J. to overhaul police use-of-force guidelines, attorney general says

— Associated Press

A group of at least a 1,000 people that had stopped in Rittenhouse Square moved east, stretching along five city blocks.

“Hands up. Don’t shoot,” they shouted. On Broad Street they took a knee again, as they had in RIttenhouse Square.

"This is our time. This is the people’s time,” a speaker told the crowd. “We have to right the ship.”

— Maddie Hanna and Samantha Melamed

Several dozen protesters gathered Tuesday afternoon in Fishtown near the 26th District police precinct, where a group of about 100 men the mayor called “armed vigilantes” stood guard yesterday.

Protesters sat quietly near the intersection of Girard and Montgomery Avenues. Some held signs that read “Black Lives Matter.” A line of police officers with bicycles guarded them.

Several dozen people were also mulling around, some additional protesters and others residents watching. A heavy police presence filled Girard Avenue, which was shut down to traffic in the area.

Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw condemned vigilantism Tuesday and the mayor criticized the police response, which allowed the men Monday to roam the streets armed with baseball bats and hammers for two-and-a-half hours past the citywide 6 p.m. curfew.

— Anna Orso

At least 1,000 demonstrators made a winding path through Center City Tuesday.

The march sprawled over three or four city blocks and hundreds more demonstrators joined, it wound through the Fairmount neighborhood and down the Parkway.

Police and protesters on bike trailed toward the back of the group in a tight pack, wobbling amid the trolley tracks. The close quarters in one case lead to a woman, Clair Super, being searched, surrounded by police and detained as friends stood by, mystified as to what had caused police to stop her.

“We were just walking and they grabbed her,” her friend, Naomi Zucker said, filming the incident.

This march and others like it are what’s needed to make a difference, said Kelsey Boston, 49, who planned to go without sleep in between overnight shifts at a homeless shelter. “They know black lives matter now,” said the North Philadelphia resident, who has himself experienced what he said were wrongful stops, searches and arrests.

They wrote tributes to other African-Americans killed by police on the steps of the Art Museum, and took a knee in Rittenhouse Square. Along their route and at their stops, Philadelphia Police Officers on bicycles looked on but stayed apart.

Their route took them along 26th Street, where they chanted, “George Floyd, say his name.”

On the Ben Franklin Parkway and Spring Garden Street the sprawling group of young, racially mixed protesters chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets.” On 13th Street, drivers waited in their cars and checked their cell phones as the crowd brought traffic to a standstill.

They filled Rittenhouse Square and addressed the police violence that led to George Floyd’s death and has fractured Philadelphia for four days.“These are our public servants. they receive our tax dollars...,” one speaker said. “When the people who are supposed to be working for us do a bad job we have every single right to call them out on their bad behavior”

Shakirha Parris, 23, took a knee and led a chant of “no justice, no peace.” The recent Temple University graduate said she herself has experienced police brutality and racial profiling.

“I’m out here today for my brother that died, George Floyd,” she said. “I’m out here for my sister that died, Breonna Taylor. I’m out here for all my brothers and sisters. I’m here for my generation.”

It was empowering, she said, to be able to raise her voice and advocate for change. “I would like to see a change in the justice system, and in the cops as well.”From there the crowd turned east onto Locust Street. -

— Maddie Hanna, Samantha Melamed

Tobias Harris publicly called for the resignation of Montgomery County commissioner, Joe Gale, who referred to Black Lives Matter as a hate group in a press statement issued Monday.

The 76ers forward followed his tweets by signing a petition Tuesday, demanding Gale’s resignation after this weekend’s civil unrest in Philadelphia that followed peaceful protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

“What we saw this weekend in Philadelphia was not a protest - it was a riot,” read the opening line of Gale’s statement. He added that nearly every major American city was “ravaged by looting, violence and arson.”

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Tobias Harris calls for Montgomery County commissioner Joe Gale to resign over Black Lives Matter comments

— Keith Pompey

As protesters gathered in Philadelphia for the fourth day, the crowd sprawled over three or four city blocks and hundreds more demonstrators joined.

The crowd wound through the Fairmount neighborhood and down the Parkway.

Police and protesters on bike trailed toward the back of the group in a tight pack, wobbling amid the trolley tracks. The close quarters in one case lead to a woman, Clair Super, being searched, surrounded by police and detained as friends stood by, mystified as to what had caused police to stop her.

“We were just walking and they grabbed her,” her friend, Naomi Zucker said, filming the incident.

This march and others like it are what’s needed to make a difference, said Kelsey Boston, 49, who planned to go without sleep in between overnight shifts at a homeless shelter.

“They know black lives matter now,” said the North Philadelphia resident, who has himself experienced what he said were wrongful stops, searches and arrests.

Boston stopped to hail Sidney Majewski, 25, who had his bike basket stocked with bananas, cereal bars and other snacks, with a sign reading “black people first, plz.”

— Samantha Melamed

Demonstrations touched Philadelphia’s suburbs as well, with protesters occupying Route 38 in Cherry Hill and kneeling outside a police station in Ardmore.

In Cherry Hill, a group shut down the South Jersey Route 38, according to KYW News, and met with the township’s police chief, who joined demonstrators.

Meanwhile, a group of hundreds marched on Lancaster Avenue through Lower Merion, chanting “No Justice, No Peace” in Bryn Mawr and kneeling outside the Lower Merion Police Headquarters. They broke into applause as police kneeled with them.

— Jason Laughlin

The bridge between Somers Point and Ocean City filled with about 300 demonstrators Tuesday afternoon in New Jersey.

Masked and carrying signs that said “Black Lives Matter” and “His Life Matters,” they crossed into Ocean City and then silently lay down on Central Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets with their hands behind their backs, recreating the position of George Floyd as he was killed by police in Minneapolis.

Some stores on both ends of the bridge were boarded up — including Somers Point’s Circle Liquors and Charlie’s Bar, and Luigi’s in Ocean City, but the two hour demonstration ended without any property damage.

Ocean City police officers joined demonstrators in taking a knee, and one, Officer Tyrone Rolls, shook hands with a local pastor participating in the demonstration.

The crowd, populated by white and black faces, chanted, “Be an ally,” and black participants shared stories of their encounters with police.

Will Cunningham, a candidate for Congress in the state’s 2nd District, described an encounter with police when he was 13-years-old, and said he continues to have negative encounters with police.

“I am now a 34-year-old man here running for Congress,” he said. “I’ve been followed by the cops on the campaign trail. This is South Jersey. We’ve got to change us.”

— Amy Rosenberg

Most highway exits along I-676 are expected to remain closed until Tuesday night.

Off-ramps along the stretch between I-76 and I-95, except for 6th Street/Benjamin Franklin Bridge, are expected to remain closed through 9 p.m., said city spokesperson Kelly Cofrancisco. Closures started at noon.

The closures are in place “provide traffic control and emergency travel for first-responders,” she said in a statement.

Closures were prompted by Pennsylvania State Police, who have made the request “the past few days,” according to a PennDot spokesperson.

Pennsylvania State Police did not provide additional details at this time.

— Patricia Madej

Humvees rolled toward City Hall Tuesday afternoon and Joe Mazzei, 26, who wore a Black Lives Matter sign on his back watched incredulous as a militarized zone was cordoned off.

“I don’t think a peaceful protest turns into a riot in its own,” he said. “There’s escalation on both sides.”

Mazzei, who is white, said he had been watching from home, “but today felt like a call to action.”

As the group of hundreds marched, chanting, “no justice, no peace,” and “f- Trump” and “I can’t breathe,” and “say his name: George Floyd”, they were at times nearly drowned out by helicopters above.

Shaheem Bynum, 23, of North Philadelphia said the demands are simple: “When they stop killing us we can put down these signs.”

“This has been going on for 400 years, so I’m used to it — but I want it to change,” said Bynum, a recent graduate of Kutztown University.

He said he is fighting not just police brutality but the structural racism that means his mother, a nurse, gets paid less than her white peers.

“My great grandmother was a sharecropper down south,” he said, “and I feel like I would be doing her a disservice if I wasn’t out here today.”

— Samantha Melamed

Surrounded by a heavy police and National Guard presence, hundreds of people gathered at City Hall on Tuesday afternoon for a fourth day of protests in response to the killing of George Floyd.

With the backdrop of an unprecedented Pennsylvania primary, the group held signs and chanted for change. They encouraged peace, discouraged antagonizing of police, and urged people to vote today for leaders who would listen to their pain and join in their fight.

“History is repeating itself,” one speaker told the crowd. “And all we’re asking for is some acknowledgment of our pain. Not just from our people, but from y’all as well, from all colors of skin, all nationalities.”

Stand By Me played over loudspeakers as he spoke.

“We don’t have a problem with y’all saying ‘all lives matter,’” he said. “But black lives, that’s our problem now.”

In the shadow of City Hall, they chanted the name of George Floyd, who was killed when a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Then, the growing protest made its way north down Broad Street, chanting “No justice, no peace.”

As the group of protesters moved north on Girard, residents stepped out of their houses, some holding “Black Lives Matter” signs and others watching the blocks-long procession.

“Honestly it means a lot,” said Jasmine Shy, who watched the march with her nieces from her stoop at 18th and Girard. “I feel like it’s all races supporting the cause on cops. I wanted to see everybody come together and that’s what this is.”

— Oona Goodin-Smith, Samantha Melamed, Erin McCarthy

Several dozen peaceful protesters on Tuesday walked down 52nd Street in West Philadelphia, a calm scene compared to what on Sunday had been the site of tense protests and looting.

The march was intended to “bring some positivity to the neighborhood,” said Tymair Johnson, 22, who along with 20-year-old Sam Sessoms, led the group in chanting George Floyd’s name and “No justice, no peace, reform we need.”

As the commercial corridor gets cleaned up, Johnson and Sessoms — a member of the Penn State basketball team — said they wanted to present a different image in the aftermath of Sunday. They dribbled basketballs as they marched and said they were supported by police officers.

“We did it the right way,” Johnson said.

Of the the events underlying the ongoing protests, Johnson said, “It’s nothing new.” He credited social media and the ability to share images and video with broadening national consciousness of racism.

“Once the cameras came out, it’s like everybody sees it,” he said.

» READ MORE: This West Philly neighborhood had been struggling to rebuild. Then the looting started.

— Maddie Hanna

Six Atlanta police officers have been charged after a dramatic video showed authorities pulling two young people from a car during protests over the death of George Floyd, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced the charges during a news conference.

“I feel a little safer now that these monsters are off the street and no longer able to terrorize anyone else,” said Messiah Young, who was dragged from the vehicle along with his girlfriend, Taniyah Pilgrim, while they were caught in traffic.

The Saturday night incident first gained attention from video online and on local news. Throughout, the couple can be heard screaming and asking officers what is happening.

Two of the officers, Investigator Ivory Streeter and Investigator Mark Gardner, were fired Sunday.

» READ MORE: Six Atlanta police officers are charged after college students are pulled from car

— The Associated Press

When the unrest following George Floyd’s death engulfed Philadelphia, city leaders scrambled to assemble press conferences in which diverse groups of politicians, law enforcement officials and clergy members implored demonstrators to stop looting and damaging property.

State Rep. Jordan Harris (D, Phila.) was invited to some of those events, but he chose not to participate until he could present the protesters with a plan for action.

“It can’t just be about telling people to go home,” said Harris, who chairs the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. “We understand that part. But we also have to give solutions so that all of the things that have been happening in our community stop happening.”

On Tuesday, Harris and about a dozen other Philadelphia elected officials, all but one of whom are African American, unveiled a detailed plan for reforming policing.

The group called on Council to pass an ordinance requiring citizen input on contract negotiations with the police union, which are usually held behind closed doors and have produced strong protections for officers accused of wrongdoing. They want Gov. Tom Wolf to create a deputy inspector general position dedicated to rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in law enforcement agencies. And they want Mayor Jim Kenney to end stop-and-frisk tactics, among other measures.

The group included Reps. Chris Rabb, Joanna McClinton, Malcolm Kenyatta and Kevin Boyle, and Councilmembers Isaiah Thomas, Kathy Gilmore Richardson and Kenyatta Johnson.

City Councilmember Kendra Brooks, who with Harris helped organize the event, said she also did not feel comfortable calling for the protesters to stand down without offering them a concrete plan.

“You haven’t seen me, have you?” said Brooks, a member of the progressive Working Families Party who was the only non-Democrat in attendance. “I’ve been invited to a couple things, but my heart is for the people. I don’t see these as riots. I see them as uprisings. And we need to find solutions for people that have been hurting for generations.”

— Sean Collins Walsh

Just before a Tuesday news conference began, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she saw the video that appears to show officers on I-676 pulling down the masks of kneeling protesters and pepper spraying them in the face.

Mayor Jim Kenney, who had also seen the video taken Monday evening, called the pepper-spraying “totally unacceptable.”

The commissioner said the video immediately changed her demeanor and she would not tolerate the behavior in her department.

“I will not allow the actions of some individuals within this organization to undermine the efforts that we are trying to make as an organization moving forward during this time,” Outlaw said. “I don’t need distractions internally to take away from what we’re trying to accomplish as well."

— Erin McCarthy

Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw defended the use of tear gas Monday evening against protesters on I-676, saying it was a “last resort” employed by officers in a dangerous situation.

“The option of deploying tear gas was selected when it became evident at that time that other options were not effective,” Outlaw said Tuesday, noting the incident will be reviewed like all uses of force by police. She and Kenney said the action was used after protesters surrounded a state trooper’s car and threw rocks at officers.

“We monitored the entire march,” Kenney said, “and it was a peaceful, legal protest and there was no issue. At some point in time, a group broke off from the main group and decided to take the highway, which as the commissioner said is a dangerous situation.”

Kenney said the police response was affected because protest groups did not tell city officials where they planned to march.

“The other issue is: How do you clear people off the highway?” he said. “Do you use physical force? Do you wade in with batons? No, that’s not good either.”

He and Outlaw said they were working in a chaotic situation that could’ve been dangerous to protesters and motorists. During recent protests, the mayor said officers have been hurt, soaked with water guns of bleach, pelted with bricks, and burned by chemicals.

"I’m not saying that that’s tit for tat,” Kenney said, “but all I’m saying is in order for us to get this group somewhere else, other than where they were, that was employed and then they moved.”

“Listen, I hate this entire thing,” he added. “I wish none of this ever started and we’re stuck with the issue of every day something happens we may not be prepared for.”

The commissioner said tear gas has a dual-purpose: “to disperse and also to make arrests afterward.”

But “I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback” the decision, she said, reiterating a thorough investigation would be conducted.

That investigation will examine not only the responding officers’ actions, she said, but also the supervision they received during that time.

» READ MORE:  Philadelphia protesters gassed on I-676, leading to ‘pandemonium’ as they tried to flee

— Erin McCarthy

Mayor Jim Kenney on Tuesday condemned vigilantes who gathered in Fishtown last night to protect their neighborhood from vandalism, and criticized police officers who high-fived group members and took photos with them.

“They picked up baseball bats, and in turn exemplified the deep divides in our community,” the mayor said. “Their actions were antagonistic and made a bad situation worse.”

“Armed vigilantism won’t be tolerated going forward,” he added. “We tolerated it last night for too long and that was a mistake.”

The group had gathered around a police station and said they’d “protect” the police if violence, sparked by the ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd, reached their neighborhood.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said the department didn’t need the group’s help.

“I would not want that group to be described as someone speaking for me or speaking on behalf of my police department,” Outlaw said. “I don’t welcome that, I don’t invite them to come back. We don’t need them."

While Kenney and Outlaw said they respect the rights of business owners to protect their properties, they said they were disturbed to hear of a man killed by a gun shop owner in South Philadelphia. The mayor described himself as “deeply troubled” by the death.

“We do not endorse or condone any form of vigilante justice or taking the law into one’s own hands,” Outlaw said.

» READ MORE:  South Philly gun store owner shoots and kills potential looter

— Erin McCarthy

Officials in Delaware County issued a disaster emergency declaration late Monday in response to looting that damaged Upper Darby’s business corridor over the weekend.

Several shops along 69th Street were heavily vandalized as heated protests in West Philadelphia over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis spilled over the county line. Police Superintendent Timothy Berhardt said Monday that several hundred people looted for more than 10 hours along 69th Street from Ludlow to Walnut Streets, beginning around 4 p.m. Sunday.

The declaration, signed by County Council Chairman Brin Zidek, will expedite applications for state assistance for business owners and residents affected by the looting. It will last for seven days, officials said Tuesday.

“This does something for all of Delaware County’s residents,” Zidek said Tuesday. “By and large, it gives us a greater opportunity to have expenses that occur during civil unrest reimburse through [the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Association.]”

The declaration also temporarily suspends the normal process for hiring employees and making purchases at the county level as a result of the cleanup efforts following the looting.

“There were peaceful demonstrations that took place in Upper Darby and some not peaceful things that took place, and one shouldn’t conflate the two,” Zidek said. “We are calling, as we have before, for people to exercise their right to free speech and protest in a peaceful manner.

“Looting and rioting is not productive,” he added. “It does not help us heal, and it doesn’t help us to move forward and develop solutions to underlying issues.”

Business owners on Monday complained that the response to the looters in Upper Darby was slow, and wondered why police didn’t do more immediately.

Bernhardt, the police superintendent, said Monday that Upper Darby planned all week in anticipation of “some type of situation.” Officers were stationed on 69th Street when the looting began and more came as it went on. He said the department’s approach was not to incite more violence or make as many arrests as possible. It was to keep civilians and officers safe and move the crowd along.

“We found it difficult to deploy officers to different locations for looting that was taking place. We didn’t want to give up the base and the area where we were secured,” he said. “So we just moved everyone along and, like I said, we made those arrests.”

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said if officers had not methodically moved up 69th Street to regain control of it, people could have been hurt.

“Getting people arrested and getting them charged was not the number one priority last night,” he said. “The number one priority last night was to protect the people who were here, stuck in this madness and this chaos.”

» READ MORE:  Philly’s chaotic weekend of protests spread to the suburbs. Now, residents look to rebuild

— Vinny Vella

Philadelphia will be under citywide curfew for a fourth straight night Tuesday, Mayor Jim Kenney’s office announced Monday.

The curfew will begin at 8:30 p.m., after polling places close at 8 p.m. The curfew will remain in effect until 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. It is unclear if SEPTA will halt bus and train service tonight.

During the curfew, people are only allowed to leave their home to work at essential businesses, seek medical attention, or seek police assistance.

— Rob Tornoe

Former Vice President Joe Biden called protests in Philadelphia and across the nation “a wake-up call for our nation” and repeated the words uttered by George Floyd before he was killed while pinned down by Minneapolis officers: “I can’t breathe.”

“It’s not the first time we’ve heard those words,” Biden said Monday morning at City Hall, referencing the death of Eric Garner in 2014. “But it’s time to listen to those words. To try and understand them. To respond to them. Respond with action.”

“A country is crying out for leadership,” Biden added. “Leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us together. Leadership that can recognize pain and the grief of communities that have had a knee on their neck for a long time."

During his speech, delivered following a third night of protests in Philadelphia, Biden called out looters that have ransacked cities following demonstrations against police brutality. But he also pointed the finger at police officers, who at times have “escalated tension” amid otherwise peaceful demonstrations.

“We need to distinguish between legitimize peaceful protest and opportunistic violent destruction,” Biden said.

Biden also criticized President Trump for dispersing peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday evening prior to the city’s curfew to make way for a photo opportunity at a church across the street.

“When peaceful protesters are dispersed by the order for a president, from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House — using tear gas and flash grenades — in order to stage a photo op at one of the most historic churches in the country … we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle,” Biden said.

— Rob Tornoe

A man died Tuesday morning after trying to blow up an ATM machine near Olde Kensington, the Philadelphia Police said.

Around 6:15 a.m., police found a 24-year-old with trauma to his upper body. They said the man was “attempting to break into an ATM with explosives,” which were recovered at the scene.

He was transported to Temple University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

The Philadelphia bomb squad and the ATF could be seen investigating the scene, photographing and collecting evidence around the mangled, blown-out machine outside Sidekicks Sports Bar at 2207 N. 2nd Street. The ATM was a stand-alone machine on the sidewalk, not connected to a bank.

The news comes amid numerous reports of recent ATM explosions throughout the city. Unrest continues this week amid protests of the death of George Floyd, who was killed at the hands of Minneapolis police. Another ATM appeared on Monday to have exploded at Front Street and Allegheny Avenue in Fairhill.

— Erin McCarthy

Philadelphia Police said Tuesday that an additional 263 people had been arrested since Monday afternoon over the ongoing demonstrations in the city — nearly all of whom were cited for either failure to disperse or violating curfew.

The update to the ongoing arrest tally, last provided Monday afternoon, represents the largest single jump in reported arrests since the unrest began Saturday, though police did not say how or when they occurred — or specify how many related to a chaotic scene on I-676, when police tear gassed hundreds of people who had marched onto the highway.

Of the 263 new cases, police said, 219 were citations. Since the demonstrations began Saturday, citations have accounted for 70% of the arrests made by police.

In addition, police said 186 people have been charged with looting or burglary, 10 with assault on police, four for theft, three for firearms violations, and one each for rioting, propulsion of a missile, and vandalism.

— Chris Palmer

Kristen Graham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, was arrested by police while covering protests near City Hall Monday night and placed in a police bus.

Here’s how Graham described her arrest:

Graham, who has worked at the Inquirer for nearly 20 years, wrote that eventually, a lawyer for the Inquirer made contact with city officials. Soon after the call, an officer let her and the other journalist off the bus.

» READ MORE: Tear gas, then handcuffs: I am an Inquirer journalist who was arrested for doing my job

— Rob Tornoe

As police and protesters faced off in tense confrontations in Philadelphia and other cities across the country, cops in Camden took a different tact — they marched alongside demonstrators.

Speaking on CNN Tuesday morning, Camden Police Chief Joe Wysocki said when he found out members of the community wanted to hold a peaceful march over the weekend, he asked for permission to march with them.

“I was welcomed with open arms,” Wysocki said. He and his officers locked arms with protesters and joined the march against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd.

“What happened in Minnesota is absolutely horrific, and it bothers every good cop in the country,” Wysocki said. “There’s a knot in everyone’s stomach, every cop in the country. We had to do that.”

“The community chose not to have a violent protest, and the community wants a safer place. That’s the key ingredient,” Wysocki added.

» READ MORE: In Camden, police and protesters take a different path after George Floyd’s killing

— Rob Tornoe

Pennsylvanians are voting Tuesday in an atmosphere with few precedents — if any.

On top of a pandemic that had already scrambled elections across the country, the vote will come after days of protests over the killing of George Floyd as Minneapolis police knelt on his neck and violent clashes that have added more tension — and left an already stricken Philadelphia smoldering in places.

First the primary was shifted five weeks forward from April 28 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Then the Democratic contest for president effectively ended, with Joe Biden’s victory all but assured. Almost two million Pennsylvanians have requested mail-in ballots. And 77% of Philadelphia’s polling places won’t be open on primary day. It all means it could be days before we have actual results.

» READ MORE: Follow our live election coverage throughout the day.

— Laura McCrystal, Jonathan Tamari, and Jonathan Lai

The owner of a gun store in South Philadelphia shot and killed a potential looter who broke in early Tuesday morning.

A group of three or four people cut the lock and kicked in the door at Firing Line, Inc. on the 1500 block of South Front Street, police told reporters. The owner, who told police he was spending the night in the shop due to previous break-in attempts, said he heard the individuals walking up the steps to his second floor store and took matters into his own hands.

“He heard them walking up the steps, and one of the individuals who broke into the property pointed a handgun at him,” Philadelphia police inspector Scott Small told Fox 29. “And that’s when the store owner fired his own weapon, striking the one perpetrator at least one time in the head.”

Medics pronounced the person dead on the scene, and the other two or three individuals fled on foot, Small said.

Small said an individual arrived at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with a gunshot wound to his shoulder shortly after the incident, and said it’s a “possibility” the person is connected to the burglary attempt.

Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Rob Tornoe

Hundreds of National Guard troops rolled into Philadelphia to help restore order Monday, even as new and frightening confrontations erupted between police and protesters on a third straight day of unrest.

Fires burned again, and the city remained under curfew following looting and destruction that overtook peaceful demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. A tired Mayor Jim Kenney declared that Philadelphia is “in the middle of one of the biggest crises in the city’s history,” simultaneously beset by civil unrest, a pandemic, economic devastation, and a primary election.

On Monday evening, thousands of marchers moved onto the Vine Street Expressway, stopping traffic on the city’s major east-west thoroughfare. Some lay in the street. Police fired tear gas into the crowd, setting off a blind, chaotic stampede as demonstrators tried to escape, scrambling up walls and steep hills and falling over one another.

“Tear gas! Tear gas!” people shouted as they ran and fell, many digging their hands into the dirt to pull themselves forward.

» READ MORE:  National Guard troops deploy in Philly as confrontations continue between police and protesters

— Jeff Gammage, Ellie Rushing and Kristen A. Graham

Several dozen peaceful protestors on Tuesday walked down 52nd Street in West Philadelphia, a calm scene compared to what on Sunday had been the site of tense protests and looting.The march was intended to “bring some positivity to the neighborhood,” said Tymair Johnson, 22, who along with 20-year-old Sam Sessoms led the group in chanting George Floyd’s name and “No justice, no peace, reform we need.”As the commercial corridor gets cleaned up, Johnson and Sessoms — a member of the Penn State basketball team — said they wanted to present a different image in the aftermath of Sunday. They dribbled basketballs as they marched and said they were supported by police officers.“We did it the right way,” Johnson said.Of the the events underlying the ongoing protests, Johnson said, “It’s nothing new,” but credited social media and the ability to share images and video with broadening national consciousness of racism.“Once the cameras came out, it’s like everybody sees it,” he said.Several dozen peaceful protestors on Tuesday walked down 52nd Street in West Philadelphia, a calm scene compared to what on Sunday had been the site of tense protests and looting.The march was intended to “bring some positivity to the neighborhood,” said Tymair Johnson, 22, who along with 20-year-old Sam Sessoms led the group in chanting George Floyd’s name and “No justice, no peace, reform we need.”As the commercial corridor gets cleaned up, Johnson and Sessoms — a member of the Penn State basketball team — said they wanted to present a different image in the aftermath of Sunday. They dribbled basketballs as they marched and said they were supported by police officers.“We did it the right way,” Johnson said.Of the the events underlying the ongoing protests, Johnson said, “It’s nothing new,” but credited social media and the ability to share images and video with broadening national consciousness of racism.“Once the cameras came out, it’s like everybody sees it,” he said.