Update: Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert announced Wednesday that the curfew is lifted and the emergency order is lifted, although a proclamation declaring a state of emergency remains in effect.

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Update: The Omaha City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday to extend an emergency order issued May 31 by Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert for up to one week.

Stothert can decide when conditions warrant suspending the order, which allows for a nightly curfew between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and a ban on public gatherings of more than 25 people.

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Earlier Story: The ACLU of Nebraska released an open letter calling for the Omaha City Council to reject extending the city’s curfew and ban on public gatherings at this afternoon’s council meeting.

The organization is asking city officials not to extend an emergency order in effect for 72 hours under Omaha Mayor Stothert’s authority. The council has to approve any extension, and a resolution on the agenda for today’s 2 p.m. meeting calls to allow the 8 p.m. curfew and general ban on gatherings in excess of 25 people to extend for a full week.

The resolution would allow the May 31 declaration to be ended earlier than one week should Stothert decide conditions no longer warrant the measures.

“The Constitution does not allow the government to suppress legitimate First Amendment conduct as a preventative measure,” ACLU of Nebraska Legal Director Adam Sipple said in a news release. “This citywide, 24-hour ban on assemblies of more than 25 people criminalizes lawful protest at a time when voices need to be heard and goes further than the First Amendment allows.”

The letter says the city is restricting freedom of expression during a critical time. It notes the city appeared not to enforce the ordinance last night, but says “the lack of enforcement calls into question its need.”

The ACLU said the ban on assemblies, which includes the hours outside the curfew, is an unconstitutional prior restraint of the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment.

“At a time when so many in our country and in the City of Omaha feel hurt and powerless, at a time when so many feel their government is not listening to their concerns, imposing a restraint on free speech is misguided,” the ACLU’s Sipple said in the letter.

The agenda item and the original emergency order both reference the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the resulting protests in Omaha. Floyd’s death has resulted in protests across the country.