Question: Why Did Santa Monica Police Abandon 4th Street For 8 Hours?
Written by 991KBU on June 1, 2020
It is important to start this newscast with the name George Floyd.
His death at the hands of a white police man … in faraway Minneapolis … is not the root cause of this.
It was merely the spark that set it off … across the nation … in Los Angeles and Long Beach … in Santa Monica and Malibu.
Our local news today not just is a black man’s death… pinned under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer on Memorial Day.
It is what it reveals about our nation.
It was a mostly quiet night in Malibu.
Some fireworks were audible in the Trancas Beach area at 9:24 last night.
Others reported hearing them set off along Broad Beach.
And the National Guard … and police from up to 120 miles away … gained control of Santa Monica early this morning.
But downtown Santa Monica is bleeding today.
And residents are asking questions.
Why did the city police concentrate their manpower all day on the peaceful protestors … while abandoning the city’s commercial core to vicious packs of looters???
Video from live TV pictures acted like a beacon across Los Angeles … drawing people to the wealthy business district of Santa Monica.
The city was left prone and vulnerable.
Santa Monica went under curfew at 4 p-m.
But the looting continued … unchallenged … into the twilight.
Police remained surrounding the protestors on Ocean Avenue near the pier.
And police were everywhere on the Third Street Promenade.
But on Fourth Street … all hell was still breaking loose.
And into the night … Fourth Street … Fifth Street … Lincoln … looted.
The Vons supermarket on Lincoln … looted.
At 15th Street … cars stolen and burned.
It took well into the night for police from as far away as Santa Maria … as well as National Guard troops … to take over Santa Monica.
Eventually … 200 looters were arrested.
Thousands simply drove home.
This morning … volunteers were being asked to wait a little while if they want to show up to help clean up the war zone in downtown Santa Monica.
The mayor is asking you … for your safety, please stay inside and wait until after 9 this morning to begin clean up efforts.
The city asks volunteers to please bring their own face coverings, work gloves, brooms, dustpans and trash bags.
And to please stay six feet apart and work in small groups.
Santa Monica has ordered a new curfew for today to start at 1 p.m. today for business districts and 4 p.m. citywide.
City of Santa Monica Mayor Kevin McKeown said this .. as voiced by a KBUU reporter.
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“On Sunday, Santa Monica honored and respected, and ultimately protected, a peaceful protest against institutional racism.
“Yet our solidarity with those honoring George Floyd was betrayed, as was his memory, by opportunistic and organized criminals.
“Taking advantage of the protest as a diversion, they stole not only goods, but jobs, and challenged the resilience of our business community, which is poised for recovery from the ongoing pandemic.
“Sunday was one of the most distressing days in Santa Monica history.
“We know better than to let the looters obscure the message of the protesters, who have indeed been heard.”
And the Santa Monica mayor said … time to get to work.
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“What a small and selfish criminal element has done instead is to bring our community more closely together.
“We will support our local businesses to recover from this. Much was lost on Sunday, including property and innocence.”
No loss of life and no serious injuries.
Nine fires took place Sunday in Santa Monica.
City crews worked all night to board up businesses impacted.
City Public Works crews were working early in the morning to clean city streets and sidewalks, remove graffiti, and conduct damage assessments.
The City says it has heard from lots of community members eager to help clean up Santa Monica after Sunday’s events.
“We expect lots of debris, and we appreciate everyone’s commitment and willingness to help,” they said in a statement.
Volunteers were asked to wait until after 9 a.m. Monday to begin clean up efforts to ensure that curfew orders are fully complete and so that businesses have an opportunity to assess damage.
They were asked to bring face coverings, work gloves, brooms, dustpans and trash bags, to stay six feet apart and work in small groups.
