Shattered glass, bare mannequins, and flaming dumpsters littered the streets of SoHo in the early morning hours on Monday, as another night of tumultuous protests ripped through New York City.
gothamist.com
SoHo "Gutted" By Looting As NYPD Continues Aggressive Crackdown On Protests
Shattered glass, bare mannequins, and flaming dumpsters littered the streets of SoHo in the early morning hours on Monday, as another night of
tumultuous protests against police violence ripped through New York City, giving way to widespread looting in one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods.
Bloomingdales, Chanel, Gucci, Coach, Supreme, and Louis Vuitton were among the retailers picked clean by 3 a.m., their
previously boarded-up windows cast aside on the sidewalk. Groups of young people sprinted through the streets carrying sneakers and luxury items, as an army of officers bashed the windows of vehicles believed to be hauling stolen merchandise.
"It’s all gutted. Soho has been returned to the people," cheered Leah Elizabeth, a 23-year-old white Bushwick resident who said she supported, but did not partake, in the looting. "I hope everyone got something good."
Jake Offenhartz@jangelooff
·
17h
Replying to @jangelooff
Cops bashing windows of cars and pulling out passengers with stolen merchandise.
Earlier in the night, some protesters had pleaded with their counterparts to stay focused on the message against police brutality. Samantha Williams Dale, a black 25-year-old, was one of several who physically stopped a rogue group from looting the Hat Club on Broadway near Bleecker Street.
“Because right now, if they have that as a picture that we looting, that’s gonna be the main story and that’s not the main story right here. The story right here is we need justice," she told the group. "My mom is an immigrant. She came here for me, an American citizen to be free. I ain’t free. I ain’t.”
When asked what she thought Mayor Bill de Blasio should be doing right now, Dale offered: “Defund the police, give the education the money, give us better healthcare and probably black people won’t be so mad.”
Another video posted to Twitter showed police hitting a man with their nightsticks inside a SoHo shoe store:
The plundering in Soho followed the
fourth day of
protests in New York in the name of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of a police officer has sparked roiling demonstrations across the country. Turnout for marches and rallies in the five boroughs swelled Sunday, and protesters overwhelmingly stressed that they came in peace.
But as darkness fell, violence between police and demonstrators erupted yet again. During one particularly chaotic arrest outside the Strand, an NYPD officer was seen on video pointing what appears to be a gun at fleeing protesters, after another officer was hit in the head by an object.
A witness who shared the video with Gothamist said the NYPD escalated the conflict, as thousands of nonviolent protesters arrived in Lower Manhattan after crossing the Manhattan Bridge at around 10 p.m.
"Police were swinging their batons wildly at the crowd," said the observer, who requested anonymity for fear of NYPD retaliation. "A protestor I think successfully hit a cop in the helmet with a baton. Then a protestor was thrown fully airborne and hit my legs. Then a few seconds later the cop with the gun emerged."
A spokesperson for the NYPD said the incident was under internal review. Attorney General Letitia James, who has
announced an inquiry into the NYPD's "truly disturbing" tactics during the protests, said her office would investigate the arrest.
According to an NYPD spokesperson, there were more than 250 arrests during Sunday's protests. The spokesperson could not provide any details on the charges.
As the march through Manhattan turned chaotic, protesters and police were also engaged in fierce clashes outside Brooklyn's Barclays Center. In what has become a familiar scene, officers in riot gear charged at demonstrators, picking off individuals, beating them with batons and pumping pepper spray into the crowd at close range. The protesters would scatter but quickly return, the chase repeating itself once a protester hurled a bottle through the air, or sometimes for seemingly no reason at all.
Jake Offenhartz@jangelooff
·
20h
Replying to @jangelooff
Here’s another. Cops pile on and beat a woman after she shoves one. A lot of blood on the sidewalk, at least two people arrested, both appeared to be injured
Jake Offenhartz@jangelooff
Scary scene here. Cops sprinting down en masse after protesters. Provocation as little as a water bottle. Observers getting maced at close range
1,701
11:08 PM - May 31, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Only moments before the mayhem, the Barclays Center gathering had showed signs of shaking that pattern. Organizers who led the march for much of the day helped broker a truce with some police officials, who agreed to kneel and
pose for photos in front of media. Similar scenes played out in Foley Square and Jamaica, Queens earlier in the day — with some officers
wondering aloud if they would face trouble for the gesture.
But at the Barclays Center, many protesters said that the appeal for civility fell short of meeting the demands of the moment. They said that NYPD officers were taking a knee for publicity, while continuing to brutalize black and brown New Yorkers.
"We've tried that so many fucking times and it hasn't worked," said Hunter Dunn, a 22-year-old Lower East Side resident. "I'm not about to watch a cop kneel and say 'Oh good for you.' I'm mad. I deserve to be."
