The City of Tallulah has extended the evening hours of its indefinite curfew throughout the holiday season.

Tallulah Chief of Police Buster McCoy said nighttime curfew hours were extended to 1 a.m. beginning Christmas Eve in order to accommodate holiday travel and other extracurricular events specific to the season.

The curfew was implemented in October after a rash of deadly shootings that occurred throughout the town over a period of several months. 

“Due to the increased number of random shootings resulting in death, injury and property damage, and increased incidents of loitering throughout the city, the City of Tallulah is imposing a curfew from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. each night beginning Friday,” Tallulah Police Department officials said in a statement in October. “The curfew will be strictly enforced and only essential movement will be allowed. Violators will be penalized to the extent of the law.”

Although incidents of violence in Madison Parish have slowed since the curfew’s implementation, officials have not indicated a plan to lift it in the near future. McCoy said the curfew’s extended hours will cease Thursday, Jan. 2, at which time it will revert back to its original 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. timeframe.

The curfew is a blanket mandate affecting all citizens and is not specific to minors.