MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – More than 200 businesses across the Twin Cities have been vandalized, looted, or burned in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was allegedly murdered Monday night by a Minneapolis police officer.
After setting fire to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct Thursday night, rioters made their way to the Fifth Precinct Friday, reducing a nearby Wells Fargo and U.S. Post Office to rubble.
A massive crowd of residents worked Saturday to clean up a strip mall that had been looted and vandalized during the fourth night of riots.
Another cohort of clean up crews worked to put out smoldering fires at a stretch of businesses that had been set ablaze near East Lake Street and Columbia Avenue. Despite the rampant destruction, many residents were working together to clean up a city in ruins, passing out free food and water to anyone in need.
A stretch of businesses on Chicago Avenue was hit particularly hard by arsonists, who indiscriminately set fire to shops on either side of the Minneapolis street.
Some of the anarchy has spilled into the capital city of St. Paul as its Midway neighborhood has seen widespread acts of vandalism and arson. Sports Dome on University Avenue, for instance, was reduced to ashes along with Lloyd’s Pharmacy on Snelling Avenue.
Here is more footage The Minnesota Sun obtained while walking the streets:
– – –
Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
