Don Lemon admits protests become ‘not so peaceful’ after dark

At issue specifically are the protests currently happening in Brooklyn Center MN over the officer-involved shooting death of Daunte Wright, which are on their fourth straight day.

"Every night we've seen some semblance of this [not-so-peaceful protests]. This just started a little bit earlier tonight," says Sarah Sidner, the reporter on the scene, as the disturbance continues right behind her.

Lemon then says:

"Yes, and Sarah, you just mentioned that there's a curfew that happens at the top of the hour, which is 10pm Central Time, 11pm Eastern. That's why, you know Chris [Cuomo] and I had a very quick exchange and I wanted to get right to Sarah [with whom he is talking] because this is when, this is when it usually becomes, ummm ... not so peaceful, right, as it gets closer to the curfew."

"And I heard you earlier saying 'during the day, most of the day, most of the time, it's peaceful,.' And then, under cover of darkness and as it gets closer to the curfew, that's when the unrest starts."

Sidner replied:

"Yeah, yeah."

"And usually, there are more people coming out, because people have jobs in the daytime, and, you know, more people will come out in the evening. But tonight, it is a smaller crowd then it was last night and the night before that."

"But they're committed; let's put it that way. They are committed to being out here, and, over and over again, have said they're not leaving when the curfew happens. Now we know that that has also been the sentiment the past couple of nights, but when the police come out with hundreds of officers to push them forward, they do move."

Lemon's position has been inconsistent over the past year regarding the riots. For example, this Jan. 6 tweet shows a different slant on the same issue:

"They allow these people to run rampant in Washington but they gas peaceful #BLM protesters?! WOW"