Credit: Sam Allard/Scene

Update: Ondrejech told Fox 8 that the city indicated to him today that when the curfew expires tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. it will not be extended any further. As such, he’ll withdraw his legal challenge.

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(Original story): A motion seeking a temporary restraining order from a federal judge to prevent the city of Cleveland from enforcing planned evening curfews the rest of the week was filed in federal court Wednesday evening.

Local lawyer Mark Ondrejech, who filed the motion, argued the curfews amount to martial law instituted without any evidence of “clear and present danger.”

Following last Saturday’s protests in downtown Cleveland demanding justice for George Floyd, Cleveland instituted strict curfews and traffic restrictions that at first stretched until Monday morning. Those restrictions were then extended through a second modification of the proclamation of civil emergency until Wednesday morning with additional 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. restrictions every evening through Friday.

The city argued in a late-night response (see below) that no specific irreparable harm was shown by Ondrejech to merit a temporary restraining order and that their general argument — that the curfews were instituted after widespread violence — would hold up in court.

In a press release on Covid-19 infections and city restrictions, Cleveland acknowledged the development: “This evening, a Complaint and Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order was filed in Federal Court asking the Court to immediately restrain the City and others from implementing and enforcing any further curfews in the City of Cleveland. The City will respond to this action in Court. We have no further comment at this time.”

Mayor Frank Jackson has previously said in interviews the nightly curfews could last even further depending on circumstances.

Judge Patricia A. Gaughan will rule on the motion.

This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2020.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

7 replies on “Legal Challenge of City of Cleveland Curfew Withdrawn”

  1. Seriously??? Oh yes, what a great idea… let’s encourage more thug youths to destroy even more of downtown!!!

    Then, eventually the entire downtown area can resemble that of the entire city of East Cleveland!!!

  2. This is what Cleveland Scene wants. At one point they are just liberal and have the ideal of the city burning down. But now they literally want the city to burn down. You saw what happened Saturday. Whether you agree with that part or not, how can you not think that this is necessary? A week ago, EVERYONE ON THIS DAMN SITE was okay with the whole COVID thing being a real problem and not being able to walk out the front damn door. This publication was literally saying how horrible people are for going to a restaurant. People were being mocked for wanting to grab a beer instead of “saving lives”. Now that its protest/riots its okay tho?

    Crazy how fast COVID went away. It is literally insane. Now, the city was ransacked, you can’t not go out at night for a week? JUST A WEEK ago you were afraid for your life?

    It is always something. Asshole if you go out and get a beer bc of COVID a week ago. This week, the city is an asshole for trying to protect us because we HAVE to go out or its our right to go out. But its not our right to go grab a damn beer?

    The double standard is ridiculous.

  3. Comparing Cleveland’s curfew to martial law is absurd.
    Martial law is the exercise of government and control by military authorities over the civilian population of a designated territory.
    The Ohio National Guard is only assisting the City of Cleveland at Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson’s request.
    The curfew was imposed by Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson, not the Ohio National Guard.

  4. L4E…Kwitcherbitchin, hunker in your 500 G Ohio City Bunker, stare at your 84-inch TV, and STFU. You’re being an asshole no matter what.

  5. City Boy – what about I said was incorrect? Did you agree that staying in yoru house was the right thing to do 2-3 weeks ago? And are you now in support of lifting curfew now?

    People like you always just lash back without providing any actual reason behind your statement. You are unreasonable and can not hold a conversation.

  6. put a curfew on scene staffers, antifa members, and black lives matter. Don’t let people dressed in all black with baseball bats come downtown to a “protest”

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