Dozens Of Businesses Damaged After Riots In South Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The rioting in south Minneapolis has left dozens of businesses damaged.
It goes far beyond the 3rd Police Precinct. Stores up and down the Lake Street Corridor from the Mississippi River down over to Uptown were vandalized.
"It's disheartening to come here and see the restaurants and the shops that we love all boarded up," Greta Sandquist, from St. Paul, said.
Sandquist is an artist. She answered a call for help from the Uptown Art Association to help brighten the storefronts of broken and boarded up windows.
If you keep driving further east, you'll find Thurston Jewelers. The jewelry store has been a mainstay of the community since 1910. Looters cleaned out the cases.
A mile and half down the road, just off of Lake Street on Chicago Avenue, there was a well-known science fiction Bookstore called Uncle Hugo's. Rioters burned it to the ground.
"Just wanted to come here myself and have a deeper impact than just an online presence," Brian Didier, from Minneapolis, said.
Didier rose his bike to the damaged businesses to pray for the owners.
The rioting started at the 3rd Police Precinct. A block away, the Town Talk Diner was destroyed. It was set to partially reopen for outdoor dining on June 1 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lake Street Council has raised $3.45 million dollars to help rebuild businesses in the area.