#Minneapolis sees $55M in building damage, looting during George Floyd protests

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People look over the charred remains of a liquor store destroyed during last week’s rioting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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The city of Minneapolis has tallied at least $55 million in property damage and looting stemming from the protests demanding justice for Geoge Floyd.

At least 220 buildings have been set ablaze since Floyd was killed by police officers on Memorial Day and the city plans to look for outside aid to rebuild after the civil unrest.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey will ask for state and federal funding to help repair the city, though the cost of damage could rise as protests continue through the Twin Cities and across the country.

“We’re going to need a really big package,” Frey said during a tour of the wreckage.

Residents have already begun chipping in with grassroots fundraising. A local nonprofit, the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition, has raised $1 million for north Minneapolis businesses that have been hit hard during the riots. The group plans to announce how ht money will be spent in the next few weeks.

The concentration of the hardest-hit Minneapolis buildings are those closest to the Fifth Precinct and Third Precinct, the latter of which was badly burned in a fire during the protests.

A large portion of the stores that have been looted and damaged — chain restaurants, clothing shops and convenience stores — are along a 5-mile route of Lake Street in Minneapolis and a 1-mile path of University Avenue in St. Paul’s Midway area, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.

Though many of the shops that were boarded up during the riots have begun to reopen, according to the outlet.

Americans in cities across the country have continued to take to the streets over Floyd’s death, with violence erupting in major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Floyd died after Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, with the assist of three other cops, during his arrest. All four officers have been fired and charged with felonies.

Prosecutors Wednesday upped the charges against Chauvin from third- to second-degree murder and charged three other officers with aiding and abetting in the case.

Hundreds gathered Thursday in Minneapolis at a memorial service for Floyd, where Rev. Al Sharpton delivered his eulogy.

“I want us to not sit here and act like we had a funeral on the schedule. George Floyd should not be among the deceased. He did not die of common health conditions. He died of a common American criminal justice malfunction,” Sharpton said at the service.