A curfew is now in place around the Tulsa arena where President Trump plans to hold a Saturday rally. It took effect Thursday night and is intended to keep protesters from gathering around the BOK Center downtown through 6am Sunday, reports the Tulsa World. The rally begins at 7pm Saturday, per ABC News. The curfew is laid out in an executive order from Mayor GT Bynum, who noted the possibility for violence. "Individuals from organized groups who have been involved in destructive or violent behavior in other states are planning to travel to the City of Tulsa for purposes of causing unrest in and around the rally," reads the order, which cites information from law enforcement agencies. Police said offenders who refused to leave the area would be cited or arrested. Trump himself weighed in Friday with a warning on Twitter, notes Politico.
"Any protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes who are going to Oklahoma please understand, you will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis," he wrote. “It will be a much different scene!” The rally is being held despite an uptick in COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma, but that is just one element of controversy, per the Guardian. The rally, initially set for Juneteenth, comes weeks after the anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, in which up to 300 black people were killed. Victims are believed to be buried in a mass grave a half mile from the arena, Rebecca Nagle writes at the Atlantic. At the Washington Post, Marc A. Thiessen argues this is the moment for Trump to "express his solidarity with George Floyd" and "appeal directly to black Americans." (Trump says he's responsible for making Juneteenth "very famous.)
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