Nearly 1,200 people were arrested Sunday across Los Angeles County as protesters continued to clash with police, and looting and vandalism hit major cities over the weekend.
County officials announced they were extending an overnight curfew after days of unrest. People will be required to be off the streets of L.A. County starting at 6 p.m. Monday for the second night in a row.
“Sunday was one of the most distressing days in Santa Monica history,” Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown said as the city enacted a 1:30 p.m. curfew Monday.
In Long Beach, the curfew took effect at 1 p.m. in the business district and 4 p.m. citywide.
Culver City and West Hollywood put in place 4 p.m. curfews Monday; Beverly Hills enacted a 1 p.m. curfew.
Elsewhere, the city of Anaheim and Riverside County both announced curfews in effect at 6 p.m.
On Sunday, looters shattered windows and emptied stores in downtown Santa Monica and Long Beach, largely unimpeded by law enforcement, but at times clashing with peaceful protesters.
More than 400 people were arrested in Santa Monica on suspicion of crimes that included looting, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a police officer and curfew violations, Police Chief Cynthia Renaud said Monday. She estimated that 95% of those arrested did not live in the city.
Firefighters also extinguished nine fires around the city, McKeown said. Despite the property damage, no serious injuries were reported.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore told KTLA-TV that 700 people were arrested in the city of Los Angeles on Sunday.
“It was anarchy,” Moore told the station.
Sunday’s arrests followed nearly 400 from Saturday, when looters targeted the trendy Fairfax shopping district and 500 others on Friday, when protesters shut down several freeways in downtown L.A., the chief said.
In Long Beach, 75 people were arrested Sunday, and around 100 small fires, mostly to debris and cars, were set throughout the city, officials said Monday.
No police officers or firefighters were seriously injured, but a journalist was struck with a rubber bullet.
“What happened last night to our small businesses was unacceptable,” Mayor Robert Garcia said Monday. “We should be angry and saddened.”
Garcia blamed the behavior on organized criminals who he thinks were unaffiliated with the initial protest but have been “hitting cities across the state.” He declined to elaborate on what he was referencing but said Police Chief Robert Luna has been in contact with other law enforcement agencies about what seemed to be a coordinated effort, pointing to similar mayhem in Santa Monica that followed a largely peaceful protest.
“The chief and the police department obviously are having conversations with other agencies and our federal partners. … I think it’s pretty clear given the type of activity and how organized the activity was, there is a strategy going city to city and doing this criminal work,” Garcia said.
Luna said he and most of his officers agreed with the spirit of the protest and were “offended and appalled” by the footage of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. But the chief also decried the actions of the looters and promised to use available footage captured by news cameras and other observers to track down those responsible.
“There were a whole lot of cameras out there,” he said. “If you were looting and we have your license plate number and your face, we’re gonna come after you.”
Luna said he has recalled all officers from vacation and has the entire department’s roster available to handle future demonstrations. He and Garcia also scoffed at complaints that officers had stood down and allowed looters to cause damage without fear of police interference.
“The police department acted heroically yesterday. We should be proud of what they did, and they were working their … off,” Garcia said. “This idea that they were just standing around, is complete BS.”
While the destruction Sunday erupted during mostly peaceful protests decrying the death of Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody, two groups emerged more distinctly later in the day: one ransacking shops, the other rallying on message.
In Santa Monica, they were often blocks apart. Looters in the shopping district on 4th Street appeared organized, smashing windows with crowbars and skateboards and loading stolen goods into waiting cars. Fires were started, with at least two squad cars burned.
Several blocks away, police tried to break up demonstrators on Ocean Avenue with smoke grenades, and fired rubber bullets when eggs and water bottles were hurled at them.
By early Sunday evening, a similar dynamic had developed in downtown Long Beach, with police facing off with protesters as groups of people looted stores nearby.
At the Pike Outlets at Pine Avenue and Shoreline Drive, the crowd used hammers and threw the lids of trash cans to smash windows. Some protesters yelled at them to leave the stores alone.
Riot police moved in after 6 p.m. and the crowd fled.
On Monday, more than 100 masked volunteers flocked to Long Beach’s Harvey Milk plaza with brooms, buckets and dustpans in hand.
Downtown Long Beach Alliance, a group representing property owners and businesses, staffed a table surrounded by cases of water and paint canisters.
Long Beach Public Works crews handed out brooms, rakes, gloves, buckets and masks. Two workers worked on a graffitied wall.
Kraig Kojian, 63, president and CEO of Downtown Long Beach Alliance, said he didn’t sleep Sunday night; after leaving the area about 2 a.m., he stayed up messaging business owners and “helping people commiserate.” He returned at 5:30 to join at least 20 people who had already gathered Monday morning to clean up.
“This is what Long Beach is all about. This is really the spirit and the heart of our community,” Kojian said. “While it was tough to see and tough to understand the destruction, this is our first step into recovery, and I think it’s doing a good thing for a lot of people. It is heartening. It’s also therapeutic for a lot of people.”
Joaquin and Jennifer Perez brought their two children to the protest Sunday because they wanted to show their kids they can have a voice in the face of injustice. The family returned Monday morning to help with cleanup efforts.
“I want them to know that the flip side is they have to come out and help when the bad happens too,” Jennifer Perez said. “Community’s important.”
So many people showed up early to clean up downtown Long Beach that city and nonprofit organizers began sending volunteers to north Long Beach, where other stores had been affected.
A special Long Beach Transit bus shuttled volunteers the 20-minute ride from downtown to Houghton Park. But by noon, most stores there had already been cleaned up too.
“We’ve had an overwhelming number of volunteers,” one organizer said.
Instead, volunteers scattered to check in with business owners, collect trash and contribute to general beautification.
Garcia, the Long Beach mayor, surveyed the aftermath Monday. He said he was grateful no lives were lost Sunday night, but he lamented the damage to buildings.
“I’m proud of those who actually came out last night and were protesting for the right reasons,” he said. “What the looters did was completely against what people are protesting for, and it’s been disgusting and angering to see the looting.”
Other tense standoffs between demonstrators and police flared around Southern California on Sunday, but for the most part remained less destructive than Saturday. Police dispersed crowds at the Huntington Beach Pier with pepper balls. In San Diego, officers fired rubber bullets and deployed tear gas on demonstrators who refused to disperse.
The 500 National Guard troops remained in Los Angeles, where protests remained mostly peaceful. Five LAPD officers were injured Saturday, with two of them hospitalized, during intense standoffs with protesters.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said people who engaged in “destruction and looting” were only hurting others in the community.
“They have not just caused chaos and damage,” he said. “They are hijacking a moment and a movement.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city and county of Los Angeles shortly before midnight Saturday, which was when he activated the National Guard.
Los Angeles County officials also proclaimed a countywide state of emergency to deal with the unrest.
Throughout Sunday afternoon, National Guard troops holding automatic weapons stood in small clusters of two or three around Pershing Square downtown, smiling and waving as people passed. One wore a mask with a Lakers logo.
Officials in Long Beach and Santa Monica said Sunday night that members of the Guard were sent to the cities to help.
But some business owners were angry that the police had given the looters such leeway.
Russell Bowman, owner of Books, a spiritual bookstore, watched from inside the store as looters smashed his windows.
He couldn’t believe the police were not helping him.
“The looters broke the window in my face. There was nothing we could do,” he said.
Other residents of the progressive city tried to empathize with the looters.
Sara Meeter, 28, stood outside an REI store on 4th Street, holding a cardboard sign that simply read “Justice.”
The store’s windows had been shattered and smoke was pouring out.
A firefighter shouted at everyone to get out of the area as his team pulled hoses out of the firetruck. They sawed into the front doors.
Across the street, people were still scavenging through an optometry office and jewelry store, the front of which was spray-painted: “Save a life, kill a cop.”
Meeter said she saw a “kid” throwing boxes of shoes out of the Vans store for others to pick up. A Santa Monica resident, Meeter was following the chaos but staying out of the way. “It’s completely overwhelming,” she said. “All my senses are on overload.”
She and her friend Danielle Fetzer, 32, of Venice, both white, said it was important to be allies with the protesters and witness the history that was unfolding in their seaside city. Fetzer said they needed to “just show that we’re not going to … handle the systematic oppression of black people.”
“It’s a tale as old as time and I’m tired of it,” she said. “I’m tired of the police using their power to hurt civilians. I say burn the place down. Sometimes things need to be burnt down so that we can rebuild.
“Who are we to tell people of color how should they express that anger?”
Times staff writers Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, Joe Mozingo, Richard Winton, Joseph Serna, Ruben Vives, Brittny Mejia, Leila Miller, Matthew Ormseth and Andrew Campa contributed to this report.
