Protests for racial equality, woven between bouts of looting and vandalism by opportunists, continued Monday as Southern California residents started to pick up the pieces from a destructive weekend.
Monday marked the sixth day of nationwide unrest over the death of 46-year-old George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Floyd, who was accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner convenience store, was killed when fired Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Early in the day,.an autopsy carried out by independent experts hired by the man’s family declared Floyd died from “asphyxiation from sustained pressure” caused by the knee on his neck, putting the results at odds with that of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to CNN.
Cities and counties across Southern California set curfews in some areas as early as 1 p.m. Monday as the National Guard and police departments attempted to avoid the looting and destruction experienced over the weekend.
Indeed, even before nightfall, some looters in Hollywood and Van Nuys were met with LAPD police officers and handcuffs. Police also arrested a man in Upland for allegedly brandishing a firearm during a demonstration, officials said.
President Donald Trump threatened to deploy military to the streets of American cities in response, saying he would send “thousands and thousands” of soldiers if governors did not shut down the protests. Trump called governors “weak” for not arresting people during a video conference call with state leaders, according to the Associated Press.
Sunday saw the largest number of arrests so far in Los Angeles County, including 700 in Los Angeles, 73 in Long Beach and more than 400 in Santa Monica. Vandalism and looting in Long Beach and Santa Monica left businesses destroyed in the three cities, including iconic destinations such as Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Pine Avenue and The Pike in Long Beach.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore apologized to business owners, saying his officers were overwhelmed by the “forces of those that wish to exact violence in the community.” The department tempered its response initially to avoid intimidating the peaceful protests, he said. Eighty-eight buildings on Melrose Avenue alone were destroyed, according to Moore.
Moore, along with other county law enforcement officials, pledged to scale up their presence with assistance from from the National Guard. Some 2,000 troops will have deployed in the city by Tuesday, June 2, Moore said. The police chiefs urged protesters to work with law enforcement and to call out anyone who uses the protests as an opportunity to loot and vandalize.
“We need that communication, because in the absence of it, we have to overwhelm,” Moore said. “We have to bring in resources that will appear to stifle the message.”
Residents and business owners started their week cleaning up broken glass and pillaged storefronts in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Bernardino and Hemet. Police chiefs in Santa Monica and Long Beach, in particular, took flak from residents who believed their departments did not do enough to protect property.
Jack Sarkissian, owner of Jack’s Jewelers in Santa Monica, said looters spent two hours in his store despite his calls to police.
“They just didn’t do anything,” he said, adding that the looters had “all the time they needed to get anything they needed.”
A petition calling for the removal of Santa Monica Police Chief Cynthia Renauld garnered more than 3,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon. Renauld at a press conference warned her department would catch those responsible for the coordinated looting at Santa Monica shops.
“We have been going through the city collecting that evidence. We have had our residents sending us videos and license plates,” Renauld said. “We’ll work through this one day at a time to ensure that we protect justice, civility and safety in the community, while still ensuring that right for people to talk to us through peaceful protest and the expression of what they’re feeling.”
Renauld said about 95 percent of those arrested in Santa Monica did not live in the city.
The protests in Southern California before nightfall Monday were largely peaceful, with small pockets of looting in some areas.
The movement spilled into the San Fernando Valley for the first time Monday with hundreds of peaceful protesters converging in Van Nuys at what was supposed to be a canceled event. Looters used the cover of the growing protest to hit businesses along Van Nuys Boulevard, reportedly raiding a Boost Mobile store, a dispensary and a pharmacy. At one point, some members of the crowd threw water bottles at officers guarding boarded up shops near the Civic Center.
Looters hit a jewelry store and CVS in Encino while protesters occupied police in other areas of the city.
Elsewhere, thousands of protesters gathered again in downtown Los Angeles, where some at City Hall yelled for National Guardsmen to “go home.”
Police fired rubbers bullets to try to disperse roughly 200 demonstrators blocking lanes on the 405 Freeway near UCLA in Westwood. The crowd left the freeway and splintered after being given a five-minute warning to leave the area.
The initial event was organized by the Student Activist Project at UCLA, which had actually tried to call off the event.
Others marched along Hollywood Boulevard carrying a sign that read “Say their names” and listing those who have died at the hands of police. The National Guard set up with Humvees in the area to try to contain the marchers, but there were no clashes as of Monday evening.
Police arrested looters in Van Nuys and at a Rite Aid in Hollywood later in the night.
Officers in Glendora kneeled alongside protesters for an eight-minute moment of silence as a sign of solidarity.
In Orange County, hundreds gathered in Anaheim’s La Palma Park in the first of three protests expected Monday. The protesters gathered in the grass and listened to speakers describing how police brutality had affected their lives.
“There’s a lot of people hoping you are going to lose your sanity and attack our city and we are here to prove them wrong,” a speaker said to the crowd, drawing loud cheers.
The protesters later merged with another group in front of Anaheim City Hall, but left as police enforced a 6 p.m. curfew.
In Riverside, more than 4,000 people protested peacefully against police violence. Many refused to leave once the 6 p.m. curfew rolled around. They clapped rhythmically as officers surrounded them and ordered them to disperse nearly an hour later.
Throughout Southern California, communities braced for another long night with businesses and civic buildings setting up barricades and police staging around potential targets for looters. In response to the looting over the weekend, Target announced it was temporarily shutting down stores across the nation, including 20 in Southern California. The retailer pledged to continue to pay workers’ salaries and benefits while the stores are closed.
Protesters laid on the ground and chanted “I Can’t Breathe” in West Covina near the 10 Freeway. Police closed off the entrances to the Eastland Center mall in advance.
Torrance’s Del Amo Fashion Center shut down early Monday and police officers blocked off the entrances using city buses.
San Bernardino County closed its offices and coronavirus testing sites early in the day to allow police to focus elsewhere.
Staff writers Nick Green, Ryan Carter, Pierce Singgih, David Rosenfield, Ruby Gonzales, Josh Cain, David Downey, Beau Yarbrough, Brian Whitehead, Jennifer Iyer, Kevin Smith, Hunter Lee, Olga Grigoryants, Ariella Plachta, Scott Schwebke, Jeong Park and Sean Emery contributed to this report.
