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Starbucks Window Smashed and Apple Store Boarded-Up as Protests Spread

May 31, 2020 | 6:55 PM - Updated on June 5, 2022 | 11:40 PM
in CRIME, NEWS, POLITICS
48


The rock is next to the dog (who promises she did not do it). Photo by Jennifer Mitchell.

A rock was thrown into the front door of the Starbucks on 81st and Columbus, smashing the glass. It’s not clear who threw it, but it comes as businesses in other parts of the city have been getting vandalized over the past 24 hours.

Mayor de Blasio says the property destruction has been the work of outside anarchists. On the Upper West Side, police brutality protests have been peaceful, with a few arrests of people who had shut down the West Side Highway on Saturday night.

The Apple store on 67th and Broadway boarded up its windows on Sunday.

Glass facade of @Apple store at 67th and Broadway getting boarded up. pic.twitter.com/4xNQC2X0Rq

— W 64th thru 67th Streets Block Association (@6467_block) May 31, 2020

And there’s been graffiti in Riverside Park, including anti-police graffiti in a tunnel on 83rd Street. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said she contacted the Parks Department and conservancy to remove it.

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48 Comments
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KBCinNYC
KBCinNYC
5 years ago

This is upsetting. https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1266933018570219520?s=20

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MM
MM
5 years ago

The Bloomingdale’s Outlet at 72nd and Broadway was also boarded up on Sunday.

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Claire
Claire
5 years ago

Property can be fixed, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and tons of other black lives cannot be brought back.

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UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
5 years ago
Reply to  Claire

What you fail to grasp is all this terror will fuel hatred of people of color and the ranks of white supremacist groups including neo-nazis will swell, as the media for the most part apologizes, lies, and obfuscates the issue, and the government, including the president, has failed to protect them. This moment in American history has white nationalists salivating, as they have been yearning for a race war for fifty years, and now they feel it may just happen. Enjoy your free sneakers and designer handbags.

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Bruce E. Bernstein
Bruce E. Bernstein
5 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

from what i’ve seen on TV, the vast majority of the trashing of property has been done by whites. i know that doesn’t fit your narrative.

And, according to a compilation in wikipedia, the majority of violent incidents in the movement have been precipitated by street actions by the police. Once again, maybe that doesn’t fit the Fox News narrative.

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UWSHebrew
UWSHebrew
5 years ago
Reply to  Bruce E. Bernstein

Please. It’s both. The whites are Antifa, piggybacking on the black protestors. Enough with the selective facts to promote your personal views. Here, I’ll start: as a Trump supporter who voted for him and supported him, faults and all, today I am disgusted by his complete lack of leadership during this violent nationwide terror, as he is beholden to his daughter and son-in-law and one other adviser for what to do. Complete lack of leadership. I want him to resign. Your turn Bernstein, if you have the courage that is.

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Bruce E. Bernstein
Bruce E. Bernstein
5 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

btw, if you want to bait people about “courage”: i don’t hide behind anonymity. I say what i gotta say, and put my name behind it.

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Bruce E. Bernstein
Bruce E. Bernstein
5 years ago
Reply to  UWSHebrew

you want to reduce a mass movement against racism, police repression, and killings of African-Americans to the small minority that have engaged in trashing and violent acts. and you apparently want to call the entire movement “terrorist.”

No one is defending movement violence, but what about police violence? How long are we going to put up with this? Do you think the 100s of thousands of protesters around the country and even the world are just making this up?

racism is a blight, it is un-American. and we have too much of it on the UWS, and in NYC.

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Irena
Irena
5 years ago
Reply to  Claire

You are right, but revenge violence is NOT the way to stop existing violence. If anything, it gives the haters an excuse to justify their behavior toward minorities.

Over the years, whether for AIDS or voting rights or just rights, people have protested creatively, forcefully and effectively WITHOUT violence.

Whether these violent acts turn out to be outsiders infiltrating the legit protestor groups or regular sincere protestors, violence will not solve the problem of racial injustice and inequality in this country.

Violence like this just gives already biased cops and others the chance to say: See, they are animals. That’s why we treat them this way.

No matter how fearful, frustrated, disgusted, angry…we must not use violence to end violence.

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Pam
Pam
5 years ago
Reply to  Irena

I think you need to take a history class. First up on your list to google is the Stonewall Riots of 1969. This paved the way for Pride as we know it today. Next up you can research the civil rights movement, specifically the riots that followed the assassination of MLK. These riots led to the passing of the Fair Housing Act as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is also worth mentioning that even though MLK decided to protest peacefully, he was still murdered. I will leave some helpful links to get you started. I hope you take some time to think about the concept that “riots are the language of the unheard”.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_assassination_riots

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Chris
Chris
5 years ago
Reply to  Claire

Claire,
If its your property would you think differently? Its a crime to destroy property and should be meet with arrest just as with killing someone. Your argument that a crime for a crime is old testament if everyone felt this way there would be a lot of killings.

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woodcider
woodcider
5 years ago
Reply to  Chris

White people cared more about black people when they were property.
You’re not going to get me to care about property while the bodies of unarmed black people pile up like cordwood.

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John
John
5 years ago

Enough of this we need a curfew and the national guard in to squash these domestic terrorist. The city will not recover with these idiots running around the city.

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Jayvee
Jayvee
5 years ago

That adorable pup in front of Starbucks has the ultimate “guilty dog” face. But of course we know he didn’t do it.

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Steve Friedman
Steve Friedman
5 years ago
Reply to  Jayvee

That’s what the German Shepards want you to believe.

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Diane
Diane
5 years ago
Reply to  Steve Friedman

Not a German Shepard.
Looks like a NYC mutt…part black lab, with a touch of different breeds and cross breeds.

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UWS_lifer
UWS_lifer
5 years ago
Reply to  Steve Friedman

LOL:) Thanks for the laugh.

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Adam
Adam
5 years ago

If these were “protests”, and these folks wanted to have their voices heard, they would do it in broad daylight for everybody to see. Instead, they are committing crimes against property and people under the cover of darkness. These are not “protests”.

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ENOUGH !!
ENOUGH !!
5 years ago
Reply to  Adam

DEFINITELY!!
Chris Cuomo, host of CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time”) Sunday night quoted NYPD reports that “one-out-of-seven” (or 14%) of those arrested were NOT FROM NYC.

He said repeatedly that these are agitators and/or anarchists taking advantage of legitimate protests by destroying public property AND, guess what, looting stores like GameStop and Nike for personal gain.

And, guess what2, if their chaos continues, it will serve to get u-know-who re-elected in November…or maybe even give him an excuse to order the election postponed…something his closest advisor (Jared Kushner !!!) has already suggested.

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Edwin Bacher
Edwin Bacher
5 years ago
Reply to  ENOUGH !!

Inasmuch as the federal government has nothing to do with the logistics of elections – they are controlled by the states – how do you propose that Trump or any federal official do that?

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Brenda
Brenda
5 years ago

You need coffee so badly that you would risk your dog’s safety by leaving him unattended next to broken glass?

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LK
LK
5 years ago
Reply to  Brenda

Something tells me that the dog belongs to the person who is taking the picture. So all is well…

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Fred
Fred
5 years ago

The Raymour & Flannigan on 67th and Broad getting plywood-boarded up as of Monday morning.

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chuck D
chuck D
5 years ago
Reply to  Fred

Who would ever want to steal furniture from Raymore & Flannigan? My grandma?

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UWS_lifer
UWS_lifer
5 years ago
Reply to  chuck D

Maybe I started drinking a little too early today, who’s to say, but this made me laugh way too hard.:)

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John
John
5 years ago
Reply to  Fred

Great 1970 here we come time to apply for a gun permit to protect my family as the NYPD and Mayor will not.

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Ted Leibowitz
Ted Leibowitz
5 years ago
Reply to  John

A single weapon will not help. but a change in attitude would.

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SophiaG
SophiaG
5 years ago

God bless these heroes and role models!

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Reply
Tim
Tim
5 years ago
Reply to  SophiaG

Agreed! Hopefully the National Guard will help NY’s finest take out the trash tonight, regardless of skin color.

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poc-uwsider
poc-uwsider
5 years ago

if you are reading this, ask yourself: what am I doing to stop the discrimination faced by people of color? how are my actions or lack thereof either helping to stop this problem, or contributing to it? My take is that if you are MORE concerned with the legal concept of “private property” than with the systematic slow death of an entire population facing discrimination, bias, and outright oppression on a daily basis since their forced arrival to this continent, then you are part of the problem. Claiming that there are other ways of protesting besides violence does not get at the root of the problem EITHER. It’s merely a vain and privileged position from someone likely that does not experience the discrimination that has sparked these protests. the race war has always been here, this is what most white liberals never realize. This is why Black people continue to be killed like this today. And then you want them to protest this unjust condition by following the rules enforced by the people that are doing this injustice.

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Ed
Ed
5 years ago
Reply to  poc-uwsider

So how will not protecting my property, or condoning acts of violence against other property owners (not to mention being OK with attacking police officers who are not attacking you) advance the cause of racial justice? What’s wrong with following rules that criminalize violence and vandalism – is it because they have been enacted by white people? It’s how these laws have been enforced, not how they’ve been written.

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K - UWS
K - UWS
5 years ago
Reply to  poc-uwsider

Well said. Thank you

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chuck D
chuck D
5 years ago

Dog looks guilty AF to to me.

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JZ
JZ
5 years ago

Verizon beside Zabars has also been boarded up with a notice that all inventory and cash has been removed from the store.

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NativeNYer
NativeNYer
5 years ago

Macy’s 34th Street is completely boarded up.

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Peng
Peng
5 years ago

If police are swiftly held accountable for their actions, that will go a long way towards calming the city. The Mayor has a lot to answer for — let’s hope he can pull himself together and get this done.

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Philip
Philip
5 years ago

They should make spray paint out of that stuff that washes off easily, like those markers for toddlers that don’t stain the rug.

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Tim
Tim
5 years ago

Starbucks Window Smashed and Apple Store Boarded-Up as RIOTS Spread.

There, fixed it for ya

Curfew just announced. You don’t do that for protests. You do it because people have weaponized a cause. And unfortunately the violence and mayhem will only hurt concerns about police brutality.

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Daisy Zeigen
Daisy Zeigen
5 years ago

For those looking for another perspective on the reason for the destruction of property done by some of the protestors, I recommend this video by Trevor Noah. He speaks plainly about the contract in society that so many feel has been violated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c&authuser=0

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Tim
Tim
5 years ago

These are not protests. They are RIOTS. The MSM isn’t doing legitimate protestors justice by labeling looting, arson, and attacks on precincts after dark as “protests”.

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Kathleen
Kathleen
5 years ago

All day long there have been huge peaceful protests all over the city and on Long Island. The people who are looting and ravaging cities are not protestors, they’re looters. Please don’t speak as though they are one and the same, or that the looters have any investment in the protests except to use them as an excuse to use violence to vent their rage.

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Sohia
Sohia
5 years ago
Reply to  Kathleen

Agree with you 100%!!

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chris w
chris w
5 years ago

Regardless of who you think is in the “right” here, keep in mind this is all leading to another spike in cases and the rest of us locked down forever. Think of the number of cops, security people etc forced to work the extra hours in close quarter, the number of people getting booked in precincts, the number of people on mass transit to reach the gatherings which would not have happened if this did not erupt.

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JL
JL
5 years ago

Arresting the other three officers in Minneapolis would throw some water on the fire in the short term.

Let’s not take 5 years to hold Pantaleo accountable (even symbolically) for the Garner killing.

It would also help if Trump didn’t fan the flames to signal to his base.

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Jan
Jan
5 years ago

Really how hard is it for the mgmt of the police
to simply say that while on the job a policeman can NEVER do anything that would cause death unless
They were protecting their own life
This is is fairly elementary yet not done
The police are not managing the police force properly and retraining is essential immediately. Duh.

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Bob Matzel
Bob Matzel
5 years ago

Any hooligan who gets into my building and attacks my doorman will have his jaw broken by me. I’m at my wits end.

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QL
QL
5 years ago

F**k the police?
What would you do if you dialed 911 and nobody came?

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Jen
Jen
5 years ago

It’s hard to imagine NYC opening up tomorrow when it looks like this:
https://youtu.be/gWIeryz95Uk

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Reply

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