Jazz wrote earlier about the looting that took place in Philadelphia last night. I wanted to do a round up of some of the video taken by various people at the scene because I think it really communicates the scale of what happened last night. The night started with a disagreement among the marchers over which way to go:
https://twitter.com/sav_says_/status/1321237719897485323
You can see the same argument in this top clip. Shortly after part of the group had a confrontation with police (2nd clip below):
https://twitter.com/KittyLists/status/1321242337721266182
Townhall’s Julio Rosas says the group (or part of it) was trying to approach the Philadelphia Police 18th District when they were stopped (2nd clip below):
The BLM crowd marched as close as they could to the Philadelphia Police 18th District. Police in riot gear stopped them from getting closer. pic.twitter.com/Rlw5QX0ZEk
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) October 28, 2020
As always, the black officers get the worst of the abuse (2nd clip):
Protester yells at the police line:
“Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you you coon ass black man, fuck you, fuck every black person out here fuck all y’all!” pic.twitter.com/I5bCLY7TMP
— Richie🎥McG🍿 (@RichieMcGinniss) October 28, 2020
There was reportedly some, ahem, discussion of what to do next (2nd clip):
https://twitter.com/sav_says_/status/1321255980009771009
And shortly after the confrontation with police the looting started.
https://twitter.com/KittyLists/status/1321248082479071232
A Target store was broken into but police showed up and got the situation under control (1st clip). As you can see in the 2nd clip, the looters hit WalMart next:
https://twitter.com/KittyLists/status/1321252111779151872
And around this time things just seemed to spiral completely out of control:
https://twitter.com/KittyLists/status/1321256242992443392
Looters in Philadelphia are pulling up in cars and rushing into stores to grab as much as they can before driving away. pic.twitter.com/I7MCwLnnAg
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) October 28, 2020
BREAKING – Hundreds of looters break into stores on a strip mall on Aramingo Avenue in #Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/FnyEJwzReY
— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) October 28, 2020
Police would intervene and temporarily stop the looting but as soon as they would leave, the looters would return. Walmart and Target both got hit again after police left:
https://twitter.com/sav_says_/status/1321278908159975425
Here’s the inside of the Walmart:
BREAKING: Wal-Mart is being looted for a 2nd time by BLM rioters in Philadelphia
They are looting 15+ stores over a 4 block radius. Police have not been able to get the situation under control
Chaos is ensuing to the point where it’s not safe anymorepic.twitter.com/U34olfZ835
— ELIJAH SCHAFFER (@ElijahSchaffer) October 28, 2020
Just after this reporter for the Blaze said things didn’t seem safe anymore, he was jumped for filming the looters. Part of the attack was filmed by another reporter:
Tonight, I was jumped by BLM rioters while covering the civil unrest in Philadelphia
Reporter @ShelbyTalcott captured the moment the looters jumped me inside of a 5-Below
They tried to rob me as well but I was able to get away without losing my phone
pic.twitter.com/DrgnbE20wA— ELIJAH SCHAFFER (@ElijahSchaffer) October 28, 2020
Another videographer was chased:
I just got chased down a few blocks for filming. If they caught me I would not be in good shape.
Found safety next to a few PPD Officers. I’m done for tonight. ✌🏼— James Klüg (@realJamesKlug) October 28, 2020
Just got chased by looters. Thankfully PPD Officers were a few blocks away. I’m done for tonight. #Philly pic.twitter.com/rRK4rXK70I
— James Klüg (@realJamesKlug) October 28, 2020
Dozens of stores looted. Even the Chick-fil-A was hit:
A Chick-fil-A in Philadelphia was broken into and damaged. pic.twitter.com/yfR4w5laOj
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) October 28, 2020
Elijah Schaffer, who has been to a lot of these protests, said it felt like the police had completely lost control:
The police completely lost control of the city. I've only seen this happen in Dallas immediately post George-Floyd & Kenosha. All terribly sad to witness.
No National Guard, police were standing down, barely enough officers to keep a single shopping center clear.
Seems planned https://t.co/gOgqz8sjpH
— ELIJAH SCHAFFER (@ElijahSchaffer) October 28, 2020
And it wasn’t just looting taking place. NBC 10 reports there were 11 people shot last night in the area where the looting took place:
Two teenagers, a 15-year-old girl and 18-year-old young man, were among at least 11 people shot in an area targeted by looters during a night of unrest following the police shooting death of a Philadelphia man, police said.
It was unclear if any of the shooting victims were fatally wounded, but some of the gunfire included looters shooting at other looters in the Port Richmond neighborhood, which saw scores of people shatter windows and break into stores along Aramingo Avenue as police officers struggled to contain the chaos following the killing of Walter Wallace Jr., Philadelphia Police Department sources on the scene told NBC10.
Were police just overwhelmed or did they make some kind of decision to retreat? Finally, here’s a CBS Philly report on the damage done last night:
Update: I missed this. A few Jewish guys showed up at the BLM protest to “show solidarity.” They were forced out, threatened and attacked. “You all know we the real Jews, right?” a guy off camera said to them. So I guess we have some more Black Hebrew Israelites at this protest.
Orthodox Jews violently attacked by mob @ BLM protest last night in Philly. They told protesters they were there to show solidarity. Mob shouted anti Semitic & racist hate as they assaulted victims. Spoke to victim, says he feared for his life. This needs to be condemned by all! pic.twitter.com/oAY2kSaqM4
— Yaacov Behrman (@ChabadLubavitch) October 28, 2020
And here’s Eric Lipton of the NY Times saying it’s weird how conservatives want to “amplify” a night of riots, looting and shooting:
Watching my Twitter feed since last night very notable the intensity of tweets from conservative voices looking to amplify/draw attention to looting in Phila. Yes it happened. NYT covered it as well. Just remarkable how conservatives want to elevate it. https://t.co/cff3J8xoPs
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) October 28, 2020
Here’s how the Times covered it:
As Jeryl Bier pointed out, that’s a step down from some of the Times’ previous coverage of riots:
Some media "elevate it", others romanticize it:
"A ‘Glorious Poetic Rage’"https://t.co/QT2sotsgtZ pic.twitter.com/laLyBKFOfh
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) October 28, 2020
Update: Fox 29 reports police in Philly were told not to respond to “burglary” calls. Authorities haven’t been asked about this yet but this would seem to mean no arrests for looting.
Yesterday when police announced the number of arrests in the Mon-Tues looting,charges were for “burglary”. And in the directive, @phillypolice point out no calls for burglary will be responded to by the dept.&officers think that leaves no deterrent to stop looting @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/2AyhIyV7O7
— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) October 28, 2020
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