Some businesses in downtown Birmingham closed early out of precaution. City remains open.

Screen Shot 2020 06 04 at 2.29.15 PM Some businesses in downtown Birmingham closed early out of precaution. City remains open.
Police cruiser in front of City Hall today. Photo via Bill Castle for ABC3340

Due to safety concerns in downtown Birmingham today, June 4, several businesses are closing for the day. Mayor Woodfin’s office wanted to dispel rumors that the city is shutting down today.  That’s not the case. Learn more.

Concerns over Civil Unrest

IMG 3483 scaled Some businesses in downtown Birmingham closed early out of precaution. City remains open.
Birmingham City Hall. Photo via Nathan Watson for Bham Now

Earlier today, Birmingham set up a fence around Linn Park to prohibit protests. Instead, protests are to be held at the city-designated protest zone, WC Patton Park.

The City has closed off access to City Hall and Linn Park.

The City of Birmingham sent out a press release, confirming that the city is not shutting down today but remains vigilant:

As a city, our main priority is to keep our residents, employees, businesses and visitors safe and updated with credible information.

We have received many inquiries that the city is shutting down today due to potential unrest. This is not true. To be clear, the city has not announced a shut down nor does it plan to announce a shut down today.

We remain in constant contact with Birmingham police and other law enforcement on a local, state and federal level about threats connected to the city. All official notices about closings or imminent threats will come from the Mayor’s Office of Public Information.

Yesterday evening, City Hall was placed on a brief lockdown after officials learned that individuals in Linn Park had been in cities where there had been peaceful protests that were followed by civil unrest. There was no civil unrest near City Hall yesterday. However, a group gathered in Linn Park refused to leave after the city’s 7 p.m. curfew. Following their failure to disperse, they were arrested.

Today, fencing has been placed around Linn Park for public safety purposes to ensure unregistered gatherings do not occur.

Mayor’s Office of Public Information

Closures for June 4

Bham Now will update these closures as we learn more.

University of Alabama at Birmingham

UAB Campus Green Some businesses in downtown Birmingham closed early out of precaution. City remains open.
UAB Campus. Photo via UAB

12:50PM: UAB pushed out an alert around saying the closure was “out of an abundance of caution”.

UAB is closing using weather group assignments:

  • Green: Closed at 2PM
  • Yellow: Defer to supervisor.
  • Red: Remain open.

Jefferson County Courts

12:00PM: Jefferson County Courts closed and will reopen at 9:00AM Friday.

Botannica

Closed today at 2PM.

Magic City Nutrition

Closed today at 2:30PM.

Adamson Ford:

Closed today.

Other Updates:

Children’s Hospital of Alabama remains open for scheduled appointments, and their Emergency Department is accessible for patients needing medical assistance.

Pizitz Food Hall is protecting their building with plywood barriers.

If you have updated information, please reach out to nathan@bhamnow.com to share.

Nathan Watson
Nathan Watson

Senior Content Producer + Photographer

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