Update: Sahadi’s tells us they had no windows damaged. “Our neighbors had a little graffiti but our windows and façade had zero damage.” The Bklynr story includes a photo of a boarded-over window at Urban Outfitters, which is on the opposite side of Atlantic from Sahadi’s. Bklynr reports that on Tuesday night rioters smashed windows and did other damage to 39 businesses along Atlantic Avenue, including Sahadi’s (photo). Five police officers suffered minor injuries, and nine police vehicles were vandalized. The rioters, estimated at 200, appeared to have come from an otherwise peaceful demonstration in Fort Greene Park reacting to the killing by Philadelphia police of Walter Wallace Jr., a mentally disturbed Black man holding a knife. Bklynr interviewed Kate Chura, executive director of the Atlantic Avenue BID. “’Our understanding from the NYPD is that the original march started in Fort Greene Park and this was a sort of spillover splinter group, which has kind of been the MO that we’ve seen,’ Ms. Chura said.”
For the future, Chura says she doesn’t quite know how to help businesses prepare.
“It’s always best to build relationships, but if you have people coming from nowhere it’s going to take a larger effort. Coordination, intervention. Or, everyone just goes and puts down a roll-down door. But these are businesses that are barely able to keep the doors open during the pandemic,” she said.
The Daily News reports that Mayor de Blasio condemned the violence. According to the Daily News story: “‘No violence is acceptable,’ he said. ‘Of course those offenses should be prosecuted, and I absolutely want to see those prosecutions.’”
Flickr photo by Rachael Ash
