NEWS

Volunteers come to aid of downtown Providence businesses hit by riot

Paul Edward Parker
pparker@providencejournal.com
Karen Beebe, owner of Modern Love on Westminster Street, starting the cleanup outside her shop Tuesday.

PROVIDENCE — A rainbow of humanity — black and white, Asian and Latino — descended on Westminster Street and surrounding blocks Tuesday morning to clean up the damage left after people in the overnight hours smashed windows and looted shops.

Michele Fontes, wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” face mask, walked through downtown with three boxes of doughnuts from Dunkin’ in her arms.

She’d gone to bed the night before worried about what was happening in Providence as rumors of riots and looting started to swirl. When she woke up and saw the news, she was devastated.

Fontes felt like she had to do something, and everyone loves doughnuts, so there she was, handing them out and offering to help clean up.

As downtown businesses literally picked up the pieces, they were aided by a platoon of volunteers who, battling a sense of helplessness and sorrow, came out to do whatever they could to fix things.

They handed out iced coffees, doughnuts, bagels. They helped sweep broken glass from sidewalks, or scrubbed spray paint from walls. They just asked each other if they were OK.

Scott Blackledge, owner of the Downcity Inn on Washington Street, described the violence overnight as like a “war zone.”

Blackledge said that at about 2 a.m., there were more than 100 people in the streets around the building. They smashed the windows of the St. Pierre’s shoe store and Blake’s Tavern downstairs, and the locksmith across the street. Police dispersed them, but they just scattered and then came back, Blackledge said.

One of Blackledge’s tenants, who had just moved in Monday, was watching from a window when one person launched a two-by-four at it, Blackledge said. She was able to back away from the window before it broke through, but had to flee when someone threw an incendiary device into the downstairs shoe store. She described feeling the heat beneath her feet before escaping to safety. She was treated for smoke inhalation; the sprinkler system put out the fire, Blackledge said.

Tuesday was to be a memorable day for Karen Beebe.

After being closed for more than two months because of the coronavirus, she was set to reopen her side-by-side shops on Westminster Street: Queen of Hearts and Modern Love.

Then her phone rang at 3 a.m.

“It was the alarm company,” she said at her shop later Tuesday. “Usually it’s a false alarm, but I knew it wasn’t this time.”

She described what happened next: “I watched this live from my surveillance.”

Looters broke a large window, knocked over merchandise racks just inside the window, ran in and grabbed the store’s computer.

As Beebe watched remotely, she said, her thoughts were not so much about her store.

“I just was hoping that everybody would be safe and nobody would get hurt,” she said. “I just wish that people’s voices could be heard without violence.”

As for the future, “I’m just thinking one step at a time,” she said. “As a business owner trying to recover from COVID is hard enough.”

Will she reopen?

“Definitely,” she said. “With the support of one another. My phone has just been going off with an outpouring of support. I can’t be more thankful that people are so generous and came to help.”

At 1:42 a.m. Tuesday, Guido Silvestri got a call from his security company telling him that the burglar alarm was going off at his skateboarder apparel shop, Civil, on Westminster Street.

“The window was smashed out and people were running away with clothing,” he said.

He had reopened just two weeks earlier from the coronavirus closure.

“I’m kind of at a loss of words right now,” he said. “We keep taking blows, we keep taking blows, and we weather it as best we can.”

This blow, however, was somewhat softened by the army of volunteers who fanned out across downtown, including Mike Ritz, the executive director of Leadership Rhode Island, who had been preparing to lead a video conference later in the morning on what America can do to solve its racial problem.

“I’ve got a couple of hours,” he said, adding that he had come downtown to help Beebe at Modern Love, but found her store chock full of volunteers.

“Never done this before,” said Ritz as he scooped shards of glass from a damaged display case.

Silvestre was resolute in his view of the future.

“Without a doubt, we’re going to be reopening,” he said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take. We will be back in action.”

On Weybosset Street, Pizza Queen owner Moussa Habchi was staring through an empty window frame where looters had dragged an ATM from his restaurant onto the sidewalk when his insurance agent called.

“We got smashed last night in the riot,” he told her.

Will he reopen even if unrest continues?

“We have no choice,” he said.

pparker@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7360

On Twitter:@projopaul

With reports from staff writer Patrick Anderson

A broken window on Matthewson Street makes interior dining look like outdoor dining at Backstage Kitchen and Bar.