Chaos In Philly: 378 Fires Reported, 429 Arrested In 2 Days

PHILADELPHIA — Police in Philadelphia have arrested nearly 430 people in connection with vandalism, looting, and more crimes that erupted Saturday and continued overnight. Additional arrests are expected, officials said.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference Monday that from Saturday to Monday, 429 people have been arrested. She said some of those arrests are multiple people arrested in the same incidents.

Outlaw said she expects that number to increase as more people are processed.

The mayhem followed a protest against the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The protest started peacefully Saturday but devolved into looting and vandalism later in the night.

According to Outlaw, since Saturday, police and fire crews responded to 378 fires, 14 of which were declared arson. There were 246 commercial burglaries, four acts of graffiti, and 154 vandalism incidents reported.

The city will be under a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the third night in a row.

Below is a breakdown of arrests, provide by police:

• 267 code violations (which includes failure to disperse and curfew violations)
• seven assaults on police
• three firearm violations
• four thefts
• 146 looting or burglar incidents
• one rioting incident
• one propulsion of missile

Outlaw discussed where the defendants were from as discussion of possible outside agitators continues.

For failure to disperse, 181 were from Philadelphia and 46 were not from Philadelphia. Twenty-nine others did not have locations known and one person did not have an address.

For curfew violations, 133 were Philadelphia residents and 27 were not. One person arrested for curfew violation did not have their address confirmed.

Outlaw said 18 total officers have been hurt, with injuries including chemical burns, head injuries, and broken bones. Two officers are hospitalized.

Numerous police vehicles were burned at 52nd and Market streets on Sunday. Additionally, Outlaw reported 21 shooting victims between Sunday and Monday.

SEPTA has suspended subway, bus and trolley service in Center City starting at noon Monday and will remain suspended until further notice. Bus routes will be detoured or suspended south of Vine Street, north of South Street, and east-west river-to-river. Additionally, trolley routes will be limited to service to-and-from 30th Street and out into neighborhoods in West and Southwest Philadelphia.

The peaceful protest gathered at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Saturday afternoon and moved down the Ben Franklin Parkway to Center City, where events turned destructive.

The aftermath of the chaos left Walnut and Chestnut streets and parts of the surrounding neighborhoods strewn with clumps of trash, as this clip from the Philadelphia Inquirer shows. Expletives were scrawled in graffiti across the fronts of shops and the sides of buildings.

Numerous storefronts were damaged or destroyed and broken glass coated parts of the sidewalk and streets.

Cities nationwide are dealing with similar unrest. Outside the White House, buildings were set ablaze, while violence and looting continued in Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles and beyond.

In Minneapolis, where violence has calmed somewhat after nearly a week of chaos, the tanker truck driver was taken in custody after speeding through marchers on the Interstate 35W Bridge, authorities said.