Countere was on scene early this morning in Manhattan to investigate the destruction of the June 1 Manhattan Riots. An 11 PM curfew was imposed last night—the first one in New York since 1943—and there was utter chaos: widespread looting, multiple officer-down situations, and rioters stealing from other rioters. Even this morning, the city felt somewhat like Gotham after Bane took over, with lots of graffiti, trash, and broken windows.

Not all buildings were plundered, but many were. Stores like Urban Outfitters evinced total destruction. Entire blocks on Fifth Avenue were boarded up.

Although most places had cleaned up, or were doing so, by 7 am, a few businesses could still be entered: Ziani, Zales, and Astro Gallery. A discarded bag of loot sat outside of Ziani.

The general feeling among the morning crowd—security, clean-up crew, and professionals—was gloom and disbelief. "What, they were hungry?" asked one coffee shop employee assessing a smashed window. "They fucking went in the building and stole an entire ATM," one IDB bank guard shouted to a member of the clean-up crew. “We need that stuff,” the man retorted on behalf of the looters.

I heard another security guard excitedly describing the looting of liquor stores: “Smash! Smash!” He said to his friend. “And they’re gonna do the same thing again tonight.”

It's important to note that there is still a distinction between the George Floyd protests and the riots. There are bad actors on all sides. But the media would have you believe that these are all either ‘peaceful political protests’ or all riots. The Barclays/Flatbush crowd we followed last night, even after the 11 PM curfew, was peaceful, with a targeted anti-cop message supporting George Floyd. Manhattan, obviously, was a different story.

Stay safe America.