Hundreds of protesters were dancing at Alabama and Peachtree streets in downtown Atlanta a half hour before curfew Tuesday when the mood abruptly changed.
As protesters fled, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution saw looters taking boxes of shoes from the Foot Locker at Underground Atlanta.
The day until that point had been exhibited by peaceful protests, a march through downtown and Midtown — kneeling and chanting to end police violence toward black people.
The AJC didn’t see how the looting began, but there was a large rock sitting outside Foot Locker’s broken glass door. And even though there was a metal gate behind the glass, looters were freely coming and going.
It seemed like there was more disappointment than theft at Foot Locker. People were yelling, asking “what was the protest for?!”
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That’s why Isaiah Brown tried to block looters from entering the store. The 30-year-old Ashview Heights resident doesn’t know the owners, but he said had been marching and when he heard the commotion, “something in my said (to) run” and help.
Brown thinks he blocked maybe five looters and batted loot out the hands of maybe three people. It got physical when he had to tear away some would-be looters.
Brown, who as a black man has had run-ins with police, said he feels like the looters have marred the hours of peaceful demonstration.
“These guys ruined it,” he said. “They make black men look bad.”
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Law enforcement officers showed up a few minutes later, followed by the manager, who didn’t want to talk to reporters.
The Atlanta Police Department reported about midnight that they had arrested 52 people from Tuesday’s protest. It wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday night if any of those were related to the looting.
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