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CNN Sunday Morning

Cincinnati Loosens Curfew

Aired April 15, 2001 - 10:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is struggling to start anew this Easter after the violence and racial tensions of the past week.

CNN's Bob Franken is in Cincinnati and joins us now live from there with the latest.

Hi, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kyra.

First of all, it's raining in Cincinnati and that's good news for those who are hoping that the inclement weather will discourage anybody from coming out in the street and getting in trouble. Of course, this is a very tense city; a city that saw a week that included racial violence followed by a very strictly enforced curfew.

CNN has just been told that the mayor's office has now announced that the curfew, which had extended from 8:00 until 6:00 -- 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. -- will now not begin this evening until 11:00 p.m. The curfew has been moved back. It will be 11:00 o.m. until 6:00 a.m.; sources telling us that what they're hoping to do is, by Tuesday, have a normal situation in Cincinnati.

Of course, it's been anything but normal here. Last night, like for the previous two nights the police were on the streets in convoys arresting anybody who violated the curfew at all without any sort of legal reason to do so. There were over 100 arrests again last night. There have been hundreds as police enforce the curfew that did, in fact, bring calm to a city.

It's been a city that erupted in anger after a 19-year-old African-American male who was unarmed was shot by a policeman a week ago. There were funeral services for him yesterday. City officials were concerned that those funeral services would raise emotions and cause trouble in the city, but there was relative calm.

And so now they're moving toward returning to normal in a certain way, although city officials have promised community leaders that they will, in fact, start discussing ways to improve what many believe has been a hostile relationship for decades between the police department of Cincinnati and the African-American community.

But the news of the hour is that the curfew is now extended. It will be moving to 11:00 p.m. at the beginning as opposed to the 8:00 p.m. as officials try and return the city to normalcy by Tuesday -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And those talk are crucial. Bob Franken, thanks so much, with the latest from Ohio.

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