Members of the Long Beach community gathered Monday morning to begin repairing the damages incurred from Sunday’s protest.
Despite best efforts made by business owners, several locations, including much of the Pike Outlets, were vandalized and looted.
Although the protest maintained its peaceful nature throughout the day and into the night, small splinter groups began tagging and looting much of the downtown area.
Many of those participating in the looting were clearly not a part of the protest, as they arrived in vehicles and quickly left after acquiring their stolen possessions.
Protestors continually called out those tagging and looting, begging with them to stop.
Councilmember Rex Richardson helped to organize the clean up efforts.
“Our city is strong, we are resilient, we will transcend and overcome this,” Richardson said in a Tweet.
Members of the National Guard remained deployed in the city from Sunday night to assist with maintaining order.
Businesses looted in the Pike Outlet were mainly chain stores, but several small, family-owned businesses were also greatly affected.
Several locations placed “Family Owned Business” signs in their front windows in attempts to ward off looters. Unfortunately, in some cases, it did not work.
As Long Beach begins to embark on its second phase of economic reopening, businesses that were already deeply affected by coronavirus are now feeling the pressure even more.
“The loss to the small businesses affected is devastating and I promise we will work to rebuild every single one of them,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a Tweet.