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Protesters broke into a Des Moines shopping mall late Sunday afternoon, looting stores that had closed early, including a Target. On Sunday night, a Davenport mall was vandalized. Early this morning, two dozen police cruisers had surrounded the mall in Coralville and some streets in the area were blocked off.
Shortly before 12:30 a.m., Davenport Police asked citizens to stay in their homes and shelter in place “due to civil unrest.” Polk County officials issued a mandatory stay-at-home curfew for the state’s Capital City that took effect at nine o’clock Sunday night. Polk County Supervisors Chairman Matt McCoy said the “violent outbreak of civil unrest” in Iowa’s Capitol City on Friday and Saturday nights was heartbreaking.
“Our ultimate goal is just to protect individuals and prevent violence against property,” McCoy said.
Protesters and police clashed in downtown Des Moines in the early hours of Sunday morning and police made 47 arrests. McCoy said 90 percent of the businesses in the Court Avenue entertainment district just west of police headquarters were damaged.
“We’re obviously hoping that we can express how we feel about these difficult subjects, specifically the George Floyd killing, in ways that aren’t violent,” McCoy aid.
A Des Moines Register reporter covering protesters being arrested at Merle Hay Mall was pepper sprayed, handcuffed and arrested Sunday evening. She was released from the Polk County Jail shortly before midnight.
