Violence rocks Atlanta as rioters smash windows, set fires, loot shops

Rioters burned police cars and smashed their way into stores in downtown Atlanta and Buckhead despite pleas by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and civil rights activists who urged demonstrators to stay home and seek meaningful ways to honor the death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis officer knealed on his neck while he was handcuffed.

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Stunned city officials, long used to peaceful protests in the cradle of the civil rights movement, were left to reassess their strategy after masses of demonstrators defaced the CNN Center, burned down a visitors center in Centennial Olympic Park and stormed through Phipps Plaza, an upscale mall in Buckhead.

“This is not a protest,” Bottoms said during an emotional news conference late Friday. “This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. This is chaos. A protest has purpose. When Dr. King was assassinated, we didn’t do this to our city. You are disgracing our city. You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country.”

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