Looters attacked stores in Santa Monica Sunday, the third straight day that local protests against police brutality were marred by criminal activity.
A few hundred people started marching down Ocean Boulevard around noon Sunday, many holding signs protesting Monday’s police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. That march was peaceful, but a short time later looting was reported at stores in the popular Santa Monica Place shopping center, and news footage showed many people running out of stores that had been broken into.
The city’s police department urged the public to avoid the downtown area, and Los Angeles Police Department units were assisting Santa Monica police.
The Santa Monica (10) Freeway was shut down near its western edge around 2 p-m, backing up traffic all the way to the 405 Freeway.
City officials imposed a curfew from 4 p.m. Sunday through 5:30 a.m. Monday.
As that deadline approached, some looting was still going on in and around the Third Street Promenade, while police were trying to disperse a separate, peaceful group of demonstrators who were assembled nearby.