DETROIT — Tristan Taylor, an organizer of a group that stood in defiance of Mayor Duggan’s city wide 8 p.m. curfew on Tuesday, is being held on felony charges of inciting a riot. Sources close to Taylor learned of the charges after they made inquiries with authorities.

No bond has been set as of yet. Taylor and about 100 others were arrested. The Detroit Police Department enforced the curfew after 8 p.m. at a Family Dollar on Gratiot Avenue and East Outer Drive. The group remained active past the curfew, splitting off of a larger group that walked along Gratiot on the city’s east side, in protest of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

The protesters were arrested by the Detroit Police Department, driven off in police vans to the basement of the Little Ceasers Arena in Detroit and then bused out to Detroit Detention Center on Mound Road, where they were released. The protesters were let go with minor citations. Taylor is still being held on the felony charges.

Tristan Taylor at a protest on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit in Detroit on Tuesday, June 2. Photo: Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press

The protests on Tuesday evening had been largely peaceful, as has been the norm in the city throughout the week. The Detroit Police Department has made arrests in the pasts, but this seems to be the first possible charge of this kind so far. Many protesters have come down to the city from surrounding suburbs, although protests have sprung up in other areas of Metro Detroit.

A protest will be held at 4 p.m., Wednesday at the Detroit Police Department Headquarters in downtown Detroit. A rally is also planned for 6 p.m. in front of Mayor Duggan’s Manoogian Mansion in support of Taylor. Fellow organizers are seeking legal support for Taylor at this time.

UPDATE (12:00 p.m.)

A source at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office has told The Arab American News that the office has not charged anyone with inciting a riot and they have not received any paperwork from the police.