A Look at Saturday's Protests and Riots Across the Country

Police Try & Keep Peace; Overrun, Protesters Try to Stop Looters Taking Advantage of Protests; Stores Loose Hundreds of Thousands

Photo by Axel Koeste

Rubber bullets were pelleted by police, dozens of vehicles roared inferno, dozens were upturned and had windows smashed, gas canisters were deployed by police officers while some gas containers were flung back towards police; fireworks erupted in the entrance of CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta on Friday and multiple lives have been lost.

Buildings were set ablaze, vandalized, while grinning looters emerged from broken windows such as Nike on Michigan Ave., Chicago, Macy’s flagship store down the street and Bayside mall in Miami. Bottles were thrown at police and few bystanders became catalysts.

Some are reminded of the Rodney King murder and following protests. To say that the country is at an unrest right now is an understatement. For a weekend America forgot about coronavirus and we turned our attention to the country’s protests that turned into riots that erupted like earthquakes in major cities.

Around the country there were acts of heroism as Minnesotans cleaned up the streets and businesses from Thursday night’s riots in St. Paul. Protesters protected police officers who at times found themselves at the hands of violent rioters. What many worry about, especially in protests groups, are people who show up to simply wreak havoc instead of being there for the cause. As most cities enacted curfews and prepared for unrest, some police departments found themselves overrun by protestors; here’s a look at how the protests went down around the United States.

Chicago:

Macy’s flagship was been broken into and looted. Nike's store on Michigan Ave. was broken into and looted. An owner of a black Mustang revved his engine at police officers Saturday evening every time a police officer in the crowd around them approached a civilian. Few of the bridges that lead from Chicago’s South Loop to River North and the stores that reside on Michigan Ave., were lifted while others were blocked by Chicago’s police department.

Another scene erupted where a police officer attempted to apprehend a civilian and protesters began to grab the civilian and drag him away while the police officer was dragged himself. A moment later, a few yards away, another police officer attempted to arrest another protestor or rioter and was at first met with a siege of other protestors to then be surround by a rush of CPD as they protected that arresting police officer

LA:

Was reportedly apocalyptic as Nordstrom and Rayband's store were set ablaze after looting. Streets were filled past curfew while buildings and cars were spray painted and around 8pm PT protestors were forced into a square where they were told to go home while a woman protestor cried for looters to leave and asked “what are you gaining” and a few minutes later were asking protestors to just go home.

Around 8:30 PT protesters sat on the ground in the streets and few who were peaceful were arrested, while a Moscot store was broken into and looted not far away and at the same time stores on Melrose were being broken into and looted while sounds of rubber bullets reined as the constant background noise.

CNN’s Kyung Lah explained the difficulty in watching protesters being arrested while looters made way with merchandise while multiple buildings surrounding her tarnished in conflagation. While a Starbucks on Melrose Ave. appeared to be on fire, the fire actually roared from the shoe store in the complex behind the international coffee shop. The National Guard was to arrive in LA at 12pm PT.

Miami:

A peaceful protest that began at 3pm turned into mayhem as Bayside Miami Marketplace was broken into and looted. Miami-transit was halted while a police vehicle was set fire to in downtown Miami and apparently Bayside Mall was broken into and in particularly Guess was reportedly broken into. A car was set ablaze on I-95 while the freeway had to be sealed off.

Minneapolis:

On Saturday night protestors ignored the city’s curfew as they collected on streets. Police officers attempted to move protestors by forming a line and employing gas bombs, which were retaliated by protestors while CNN’s camera man was hit by tear gas and a projectile. During the day protests stayed peaceful, especially compared to Thursday’s riots that resulted in Minneapolis PD’s third precinct to be burnt down along with neighboring buildings.

Press were pushed back behind buildings and were still shot at by police officers, the same reporter who was arrested on Friday morning, Omar Jamirez, was shot at while his camera man was hit with an assumed rubber bullet.

It seemed as if by 8:30 PT Minnesota was quieted down as Tim Waltz spoke to press, but Miguel Marquez, CNN corespondent dodged rubber bullets that were being pelleted by the surrounding police by the St. Paul freeway.

In an online video uploaded to Twitter where twenty plus MPD and military vehicles can be seen marching down a quiet residential street where are screaming “inside, inside! Get inside”, they all of a sudden stop and shout “light ‘em up!” and fire at the person who is recording.

NYC:

In the middle of Union Square an NYPD vehicle was set ablaze in a horrific scene. Both protesters and police officials stood by and watched as fire vehicles drove by, allegedly on their way to another fire. A bank nearby had it’s windows broken, leaving it susceptible to more vandalism and possible looting.

On Saturday night CNN’s Simon Prokupecz, reported as NYPD’s officers seemed the most understanding and peaceful amongst the nation’s PD. Around 10:40 ET the NYPD formed a barricade with their bicycles and stood ground surrounding Time’s Square in an attempt to keep protestors from gathering in the middle and forcing them further and further away. For hours the NYPD promoted peaceful protesting by moving the bicycle barricade. In Brooklyn protestors banded together to protect Target from looters;

Earlier in the day a police cruiser was being attacked by citizens, bystanders reported that it was “trash and water bottles” being thrown on the vehicle while in a video a man appears to be trying to or actually breaking the windows of the NYPD vehicle. Another cruiser arrives on scene and decides to drive into the crowd while the first cruiser on scene follows and begins to plow through the crowd and few who had climbed onto the front of the vehicle including the barrier that was in front of it. There has been some backlash and apologies following the scene. Mayor, Bill De Blasio, stated that he wished it didn’t happen, called the incident troubling and said that is under investigation.

A CNN Political Commentator, a POC, who was adhering to police orders while taking photographs of protesters and was arrested. According to Keith Boykin, he was taking photographs where a few police officers walked by and he let them know he was press and they continued to walk on but decided to turn around and obtain him anyway. He received a summons after six-hours of waiting. This is the second CNN member who happens to be a POC that has been arrested by police after adhering to orders and notifying them that he had press credentials. By the end of the night over 100 had been arrested amongst protests and riots.

Washington D.C. :

While crowds marched on Friday night in front of the White House, on Saturday the downtown area was under siege as firetrucks raced towards a hotel fire. At the same time looters broke into a shoe store and are seen walking out with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.

According to Independent UK, Secret Service agents in riot gear clashed with crowds of protesters who burst through barricades close to the White House, blasting them with pepper spray.

Salt Lake City, UT:

Protests broke out and while both the PD and protestors seemed frustrated and tired, protests didn’t erupt into violence. Few protestors were arrested while another police vehicle was set ablaze after being upturned.

Atlanta, GA:

Atlanta suffered a terrifying scene and much property damage Friday night as CNN’s headquarters were ravaged and police had to stand down, stopping protesters from entering the building. 51 people were arrested amongst Saturday's riots and protests and with a heavier police presence in Atlanta it seemed to have assuaged the intensity and little rioting broke out amongst protester compared to the previous night's scary scenes.

Philadelphia:

Protestors birthed few rioters who turned over a few vehicles, while a fire erupted in a three story building downtown. The crowds turned violent as police attempted to clear the downtown area a police officer was run over in a vehicle and suffered a broken arm and a few other injuries and a few arrests were made in response.

While many stores were vandalized, 38 arrests were made for looting and vandalism, 13 police officers were injured, 7 from chemicals thrown onto them. A pizza store scathed vandalism because owners stood ground outside while other store owners were severely injured in other parts of the country for trying to protect their livelihood and surrounding buildings suffered defacing .

N.V., Nevada:

Protests seemed peaceful as they marched down Freemont St.and while they started very peaceful in the morning, mayhem emerged in the evening as tear gas was deployed by officers. A group formed around 10:45pm of about 1,500-2,000 protesters and rioters and were throwing Malotov-cocktails while vandalizing vehicles and multiple arrests were made.

Dallas, TX:

Protests turned into violent acts against humanity in Dallas as an alleged store owner is seen beaten, nearly to what appears to be death. Reports say that he was attempting to protect his business, the video bellow is hard to watch.

Phoenix, Arizona:

Protests were anticipated to be worse than Friday night, after a reporter was assaulted on camera by a rioter. On Saturday a security crew of and news member, Max Gorden, were also assaulted while trying to report. In Scottsdale, while the east coast riots were calming, the famous Fashion Square Mall was apparently broken into around 11pm , which for some on Twitter find it ironic as they felt they were targeted by security for the color of their skin. A Mercedes on Scottsdale and Camelback was vandalized while bystanders told reporters that he was an employee of Mercedes.

Indianapolis, Indiana:

3 were shot while one was killed while protests turned into riots and apparently became violent and then deadly. IMPD hasn't released any information on the individual who was killed or the others who were shot.

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