Some 21 businesses in Seattle’s International District are picking up the pieces after rioters broke windows and looted an unknown number of stores, reports KIRO.
The International District is comprised of Chinatown, Japantown, Little Saigon and Manilatown. Volunteers spent the day boarding up broken windows on Sunday.
According to KIRO, 50 businesses in all sustained damage in the rioting.
“The last few days have been tough for so many of our CID businesses,” representatives of the neighborhood,” wrote on Facebook.
“The community came together impressively, time after time. Huge thanks to Seattle Public Utilities for providing supplies, Compton Lumber & Hardware for donating materials and plywood, and all of the community members that contributed their time and labor. This couldn’t have been done without the help of volunteers.”
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According to blogger Omari Salisbury, anarchist went unchecked for some 45 minutes without any police presence. Salisbury says the rioters let the main group of peaceful protesters keep police occupied while they slowly disappeared and faded into the background. As the protest died down and police pulled back their presence, he says the anarchists then rememerged in small splinter groups and began wreaking havoc, breaking windows and spray painting graffiti.
the ID ultimately was left unprotected and exposed easy pickings for the anarchist group I followed. As I mentioned previously not one time while the group of anarchists I was with was in the ID were they engaged by Seattle Police.
“Additionally, there were no SPD cruisers inside the ID to offer a deterrent,” Salisbury wrote. “It was literally lawless as when some cruisers did arrive in the area, they stayed at least a block behind the protesters and watched as they vandalized businesses there.”
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