In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd protests have spread from Minneapolis to other cities. Tonight is the night things have gone over the edge here in Chicago. It sounds like Michigan Avenue has seen major rioting and looting of stores. Listening to my scanner app I heard an officer tell dispatch: “We got people coming’ in City Hall.” Dispatch sent a call for ‘all units’. Police have been totally overrun and that seems to be the case in most cities.
Reports here are that individuals showed up with bowling balls which made it easier to break the big plate glass windows in Macys and Gucci and Bloomingdales and everywhere else. Anyone else hearing those type of reports from where you are?
Most importantly, home, safe and well far from that mess. How are things where you are tonight?
Police Dispatch just ordered units on Michigan Ave to head to Oak St because looting going on. The officer calling in sounds in serious need of help. Dispatch seems to be having trouble finding units to go there.
NOICE fuckin pad! South suburbs here, mixed neighborhood, all is well. The sounds of house music in the air due to a covid-delayed graduation party. (Backyard party, 15-20ish people in the yard. Largest gathering I’ve seen in a few months.) No violence, but my neighborhood is notoriously cool like that!
It’s not as bad in Seattle, but downtown stores have been totally looted. The rioters left the dowtown area, and citywide curfews have been declared. The National Guard is coming 200 strong tomorrow, but they will be unarmed. Oddly enough, considering Seattle saw the WTO riots and multiple May Day demonstrations, the police were virtually gone during the rioting. Only now are they guarding stores such as Nordstrom–when virtually nothing’s left to guard.
Rioting in Rochester. Which I wasn’t aware of when I decided to go to Rochester for the first time since March. I took a scenic drive around the city and didn’t know what was going on until I stopped to get some groceries and they told me they were closing down because of the rioting.
There’s already credible reports that outside people are infiltrating what had been a peaceful demonstration and inciting the crimes. I guess anyone who’s donated to the RNC lately can rest assured their money is being well spent.
Detroit’s had a couple of nights of protesting, a young man was shot and killed last night, but from what I understand, no major fires or looting. I’ve been watching a reporter from the Detroit Free Press do a live Facebook feed from the action last night and tonight, and it seems like a lot of tear gas and effective crowd control from the police, and from where she’s at, nothing was too rowdy. It did seem like a lot of vehicular traffic on the streets (odd because no restaurants, clubs, bars, theaters or anything else are open down there right now), which was apparently a lot of people coming in from the suburbs to watch what was going on.
On the other side of the state tonight, Grand Rapids saw a peaceful protest eventually turn into a bunch of broken windows downtown and some fires set. Not sure yet it those were people from the protest, but local reports are that the troublemakers weren’t originally in the group of silent protesters. The local chapter of BLM said earlier they didn’t have any actions planned because of the pandemic, so I don’t know who organized the action that eventually took place.
Probably. People should have just stayed home and not protested against someone being murdered by a police officer I guess. He would probably still be sitting at home right now getting pizza delivery but fewer covid infections!
Memphis has had three peaceful protests and one that was 99% peaceful. It was fine until the white supremacists came screaming obscenities.
Okay, here’s something I’ve been trying to work out ever since I saw this thread title, and then another similar phrasing on social media elsewhere.
It feels to me like “America Burns” is evoking negative feelings against the protestors, like it evokes images of mindless destruction that must be stopped at all costs by shutting up said protestors and putting them in prison. I definitely do not criticize anyone living in these cities for being concerned, and maybe my distance is a factor, but it feels to me that headlines like “Chicago is Burning” is editorializing against the protestors, just as a headline like “Chicago rises up against police brutality” would editorialize for them.
It’s late and I doubt I will say this perfectly but - it’s just you. My post isn’t meant to be negative toward the protesters. The protesters who want justice for George Floyd are not the people who are burning and looting imho. If my intent with this thread were to editorialize about this I wouldn’t have started it here in MPSIMS. This is considered the place to post breaking news threads. When I started this it was because the situation where I am was getting out of control. Breaking news as it were.
I also said in the thread title it was a check-in thread for other Dopers. My intent was to see what others were/are experiencing in other cities.
Sorry if my choice of words was over the top for your taste.
Pittsburgh rioting is not as large in scale as in other cities, but both police officers and press have been injured by rioters, At least one police car torched, and some looting. All rioters I saw were white, if that matters.
Earlier, there were also protests. Protests and riots were at times co-located, I guess as this was convenient for the rioters.
Police admirably restrained in their response, at least so far or from what I saw. Hope that continues.
There was a protest in Dallas overnight, looks like a few windows smashed and one police car vandalized. AFAICT the only casualty was someone who attacked the protesters with a machete (seriously). Apparently we’re competing for the “Florida Man” story this week.
Wasn’t aware of it until checking the news, as I live way out in the 'burbs of the DFW metroplex.
Out in the 'burbs of Maryland but it’s getting ugly downtown. Unlikely anything is going to get out this far, but I’ve got my pitchfork handy just in case.
Here in phila pa things got a bit crazy. The early protest went well. Then things went a bit sideways at city hall. Then widespread looting.
Had a friend get stuck in an office building. He was finally able to get home very, horribly, early this morning. The office has some good creature comforts (3 couches!), so he was in a good environment. He was able to see what was going on. The office building was in the thick of things.
The city is badly damaged from 7th street to 20th, arch to walnut. With bits here and there, outside that rectangle. There was a huge fire on walnut street. For those who know philly the fire was in a row of 3 story buildings. McDonald’s was heavily damaged, the doc martens store destroyed, and the vans store heavily damaged.
I was shocked about the shit going down in Grand Rapids, my daughter was down there roller skating with friends and ended up in a tear gas cloud she called & woke me out of a sound sleep with the news of rioters I couldn’t believe it.
It’s just you. !st amendment protests are American as apple pie. Burning and looting is not. The “America Burns” refers to the burning and looting done by rioters and not the free expression of speech by protesters.
I just got an email from our local weekly independent newspaper asking for a donation. Their downtown Raleigh office was trashed - rioters broke the front window, stole a computer and set the office furniture on fire, which then set off the sprinklers in the building. All their stuff is a loss. Thankfully the one reporter who was in the building when this started was able to get out safely.
Talked to my cousin today, who’s a Kent County Sheriff, and he said most of the people causing trouble (everyone that he encountered anyway) were outsiders who are going around the region starting shit. He wouldn’t say they *all *were outsiders, because there may have been a few bad local eggs that he wasn’t privy to, but this trouble in GR was done by organized douchebags who have no interest in actually protesting police brutality against African-Americans.
