Mayor Paul TenHaken has declared a state of emergency and put a curfew in place effective at 10 p.m. May 31.

That follows a violent end to an otherwise peaceful protest. Following an organized march downtown, some protestors marched south before ending at The Empire Mall.

Some threw rocks at police and began breaking windows at the mall before tear gas was released.

The curfew takes effect at 10 p.m. for the entire city. That’s expanded from how it was initially issued, which was for the area between 26th and 57th streets and Kiwanis Avenue and Interstate 29.

It will last until at least 7 a.m. June 1. The only exceptions are those going to and from work or seeking emergency services.

“We will be enforcing that,” TenHaken said. “This unfortunate peaceful protest has took a very nasty turn and it’s forcing these actions.”

The National Guard also has been activated in Sioux Falls. They are monitoring downtown, TenHaken said.

“I’m telling you what I’m seeing right now is a lot of kids. If you’re a parent and you don’t know where your kid is and your kid is between the ages of 14 and 18 … you need to contact them right now. Your kids need to get home. This is not a joke. We’re treating it seriously.”

There are 70 guard members in Sioux Falls, Gov. Kristi Noem said, including military police trained to respond to these types of situations.

“They will stay there as long as necessary,” Noem said. “We were proactive and had them pre-staged so they were on location tonight ready to go.”

As of about 10:30 p.m., Sioux Falls police reported the situation at The Empire Mall had calmed down but they continued to get reports of damaged businesses. Those have not yet been confirmed. No serious injuries have been reported yet.

Avera locked down all of its hospitals and emergency departments “out of an abundance of caution,” it said. Emergency patients were still admitted and security was present at entrances. It was lifted in the early morning hours on June 1.