With the city nearly empty due to an overnight curfew, National Guard troops arrived in Philadelphia early Monday to support police after two days of unrest and looting sparked by protests against the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

» LIVE UPDATES: National Guard troops arrive in Philadelphia to help police following two days of unrest, looting; officials struggle to assess response to violence

A scorched and shaken Philadelphia convulsed on Sunday evening as looting continued and officials ordered new restrictions on movement following a spectacularly destructive night and day of fiery protest.

The acrid scent of smoke from burned stores hung in the air. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge was closed indefinitely, and PATCO canceled trains into Philadelphia. All businesses were ordered shuttered ahead of a 6 p.m. Sunday curfew, even as stores in North Philadelphia and West Philadelphia were being looted and police cars vandalized.

In the City of Brotherly Love and in metropolises across America, the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis officers has unleashed decades of frustration borne from the mistreatment of African Americans by police authorities.

“These are all of our children,” city Register of Wills Tracey Gordon told a crowd that peacefully assembled at City Hall on Sunday. “They deserve to have dignity. Everyone deserves to have dignity in this city and in this country.”

Read more of our coverage from the second day of unrest in Philadelphia:

At the South Philadelphia Target where some residents who decided to guard it from looters, groups of black residents showed up after seeing news reports that the South Philly residents had been allowed by police to stay past the city’s curfew.

As their cars pulled in, the group of white residents stationed at the Target began shouting, asking what they were doing there. Some of the black people who showed up asked why they were protecting the store. Some arguments broke out between the groups.

“Why is everybody just protecting this one, and not f—ing protecting everywhere?” one black man shouted.

“We live here!” a couple of white men yelled back.

Some tried to deescalate the shouting, and police returned to the store and attempted to disperse everyone.

The South Philadelphia residents stayed, negotiating with a police officer who asked them to go home for their safety but then said a small group could stay there with some cops.

— Tom Gralish

A raw-voiced and emotional Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. took to Facebook live late Sunday night to chastise his city:

“It’s a damn shame. Everybody should be disappointed. This is hurtful. Today was Atlantic City at its worst. I’m also saying that everyone involved that made this situation escalate should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Today, we worked with the outsiders to trash our city. It was people who live here too. People going to stores in front of police officers taking things that don’t belong to them. … When is this town going to wake up? … We let it happen. I’m tired of it too. There’s a way to go about it. We all felt that pain the last couple weeks with officers killing African American. It hits home. I’m an African American. And it has to stop. But there’s a way to do things with decency and order. Do we go around trashing our economy? Hurting Atlantic City? When it’s blood spilled in our own streets from people that you know, you don’t stand. But you want to ride the national wave when something else happens.”

“I’m ashamed. I’m embarrassed. I’m hurt,” Small said. “it’s sickening."

Small declared a disaster emergency in the city. There will be a 7 p.m. curfew through June 9.

—Amy S. Rosenberg

The Atlantic City Expressway is closed eastbound at Exit 2 due to “looting and civil disorder.” The city implemented an 8 p.m. curfew but looting and loitering continued, with people grabbing boxes of sneakers from the Nike store and other outlets.

Police were trying to wave people onto the Atlantic City Expressway and out of the city, telling them to disperse or be arrested.

Atlantic City Police Chaplain Eric McCoy said he thought most looters were from out of town. “We know most people. We’re home grown,” he said. He said he thinks the police killing of George Floyd sparked anger but also tapped into restlessness for some people. “What he did affected the whole country and then you add, number two, you got to understand these people reacted from being sheltered in place. Now they can run outside and they got something to do. This became an activity for a lot of people.”

—Amy Rosenberg

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier joined protesters in West Philadelphia around 52nd and Chestnut and put several on the phone with the mayor.

Gauthier said she was out for the second time Sunday evening joining protesters along 52nd Street when she started talking to a group of younger, peaceful protesters.

“They were expressing a lot of legitimate concerns about how the police interact in their community and wanted answers,” Gauthier said. She said police were on high alert given the destruction on 52nd Street earlier in the day but the kids wanted to talk, which led to some tension. She tried encouraging the protesters to go home.

“I asked them what they wanted that night and they said they wanted to talk to the mayor.”

Gauthier, who is serving her first term as a councilmember for West Philadelphia’s 3rd District, called the managing director who got Kenney on the phone. Kenney chatted with the protesters for about 10 minutes.

“They told him about wanting more investment and resources in their neighborhoods, wanting police to be held accountable and wanting police to engage in their community in a different and and more respectful manner,” Gauthier said.

Gauthier said she promised to meet with the protesters along with police captains from the district next Sunday in Malcolm X Park. Shortly after the call, they went home.

“Today has been a sad and scary day over all,” Gauthier said. “But for me that was a reminder of just how smart and bright our young people are and we need to invest more in them so that they know how valuable they are.”

Gauthier said that after the phone call with Kenney, “most people dispersed” who were protesting on 52nd Street.

— Julia Terruso

In South Philadelphia, residents stood outside the Target on Mifflin Street to protect it from looting on Sunday evening. Police officers stationed at the store first encouraged them to go home because of the city’s 6 p.m. curfew but then said they could stay.

“You guys are welcome to stay, I have no problem with that,” a police officer told a group of white people standing outside the store. “If you see anything that doesn’t look right, please call us. Don’t get hurt over something stupid like a TV.”

The interactions were a stark contrast to the strong enforcement of the curfew on Saturday evening, when police officers were notably more forceful in making arrests and pushing people back in Center City, and in West Philadelphia on Sunday, where police repeatedly fired gas at groups of predominantly black people in the street and formed a barricade in the street wearing riot gear.

But at the South Philadelphia Target, the evening was “very peaceful,” said one of the men gathered outside, who identified himself as Johnny B.

“I saw the first group of you guys pull up… I was getting excited, I thought you guys were looters,” the white-shirted police officer said to laughter. “I appreciate you guys. Please stay safe.”

Police officers went through the parking lot on motorcycles, lights going, as the spectators applauded.

By 10 p.m., the people had been in front of the store for five hours, said Johnny B. He said the people began gathering after someone thought looters were looking at the store.“You’ve got to protect your neighborhood," he said. “We’ll be here all night.”

— Ed Barkowitz, Justine McDaniel

Police officers continued to barricade 52nd and Walnut Streets while protesters faced them as tensions continued in West Philadelphia.

At one point, a cop began speaking to a crowd, saying he had tried to help the neighborhood. People recorded him with cell phones and some shouted, but others urged them to let him speak.

“I’ve watched mothers cry on my shoulder,” he said, his speech partially obscured by his face mask.

A young woman named Asia who didn’t give her last name stood on the edge of the crowd as protesters faced the police barricade. “I just wanted to be a part of this. I’m 23. This is overwhelming,” she said. “Nobody’s hearing us.”

She said police officers elsewhere, such as in Camden, had marched with protesters, a scene different than the one she was watching play out in Philadelphia.

Another man who didn’t want to give his name stood next to the McDonald’s on 52nd and Chestnut, its windows smashed, watching as protesters continued to face the police barricade around 8:20 p.m.

“I don’t agree with the stealing,” he said. But “people just want to be heard. This has been going on with black people for years. My grandparents, my great-grandparents. Stop treating us like we’re animals.”

The 36-year-old man added: “We’re fed up with being attacked and hurt and nothing done about it.”

At the ParkWest Town Center on 52nd, where looting began earlier Sunday, alarms sounded out of broken-into stores. Shopping carts and debris were strewn across the mostly empty parking lot. No police were there around 8:30 p.m.

Some people continued to run in and out of the stores, whose doors were pulled off their hinges or windows were smashed. Lights flashed on fire alarms out of one door. People pushed carts of merchandise out of Lowe’s.

— Maddie Hanna and Raishad Hardnett

Looters hit the shopping center on City Avenue around 77th and City Avenue, pulling merchandise from an Ulta, Hair, Hair, Hair, Snipes, a Wine and Spirits and TJ Maxx.

People were hopping out of cars and running into the storefronts - some of which had already been boarded up.

Lower Merion police officers were lined up across City Avenue on the Montgomery County side of the road protecting a 7-11 in their county, but otherwise not interacting with the looters across the way.

Earlier in the day the Target on City Avenue was looted.

— Gary Thompson

As Jabari Jones, president of the West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative, the neighborhood's largest coalition of small businesses, walked down 52nd Street on Sunday afternoon, he was devastated as he saw destruction at locally owned businesses in the neighborhood he and many others have worked to grow and support.

He believed some were “taking advantage of the crisis and chaos” set off by George Floyd’s death “to go breaking into” stores. What he saw on a street that’s the heartbeat of his community — where windows were smashed, shops were looted, and Jones heard of people throwing bricks at stores — was “really tragic,” he said.

“Seeing decades of investment, of community planning, of support from grantmaking agencies, and seeing so much of that great work literally be thrown away in the course of an afternoon is really devastating,” Jones said.

Almost all the businesses on 52nd Street are small or locally owned, and about half are black-owned, some for multiple generations, he said. His organization estimates that about 5% of the street’s businesses are franchises or chains.

“Businesses are already... driven to this point of making the decision of whether they're going to shut down for good because of the coronavirus. And now this might be the straw that breaks a lot of camels’ backs in terms of businesses saying, 'Look, I can’t reopen,'” Jones said.

West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative will tour the street tomorrow to assess the damage. They plan to send businesses insurance-claim guidance and push the city and state government to help the area recover from destruction the businesses “are not responsible for.”

But it could be a hard road ahead.

“We need city, state and federal or otherwise resources to help us rebuild those community corridors,” Jones said. “Because those businesses are already struggling because of coronavirus, and if we don't get some kind of support or aid to them, we’re going to have a vastly different neighborhood on 52nd Street.”

— Justine McDaniel

Former Vice President Joe Biden walked down Market Street in downtown Wilmington on Sunday, according to videos and photos posted on his Instagram account.

His campaign announced late Sunday that he will meet with community leaders in Wilmington Monday morning, a rare in-person event for the former vice president whose campaign had gone entirely virtual.

Biden appeared to visit business impacted by the violence and took photos with several residents.

“We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us,” Biden wrote on Instagram. "We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us.

— Rob Tornoe

A crowd had gathered early Sunday evening at the barricaded intersection of 52nd and Walnut Streets, waiting for police farther north on 52nd with armored vehicles to advance.

Out the window of a car headed south on 52nd, a young woman handed a half gallon of milk to other women standing on the sidewalk. “You’re going to need it,” she said.

Suddenly, police fired tear gas canisters, sending people running.

— Maddie Hanna

A day after looters ransacked stores in Center City’s commercial corridors for hours before officers responded to break up the scene, city officials said Sunday that the delay in response was more an issue of manpower than a lack of will.

City Managing Director Brian Abernathy described a chaotic scene with responding to vandalism, arson and some 3,000 to 4,000 people around City Hall, delaying officers’ ability to move to other parts of the city’s downtown area Saturday.

“They were not able to get to Walnut Street as quickly as we would have like them to,” he said, adding, “But by no means did officers lay down or allow illegal activity to happen,” Abernathy said. “But I’m not going to allow our officers … to put themselves at risk when they’re outnumbered 10 to 1.”

Even as Abernathy was speaking at a Sunday evening news conference, more looting and unrest gripped other neighborhoods across the city, including the area around Kensington and Allegheny Avenues and the 52nd Street commercial corridor in West Philadelphia.

As of 6 p.m., police had made at least 10 additional arrests and cited 13 others for failure to disperse. Four police cars set ablaze and at least five officers were injured at 52nd and Market Streets by people throwing bricks, rocks and Molotov cocktails. Authorities sought to break up the unrest by firing gas canisters from armored vehicles at the crowds.

Authorities described the majority of looters as locals “hurting their neighbors” as they urged an end to the unrest.

Though he said officers were able to respond more swiftly to those trouble spots Sunday, Abernathy acknowledged similar manpower issues in dealing with those more diffused pockets of tension. He expressed hope that an influx of Pennsylvania national guardsman will help alleviate deployment shortages.

“Just like last night, there are more looters than there are police officers,” he said. “But we certainly haven’t and we won’t abandon any of our commercial corridors.”

— Jeremy Roebuck and Allison Steele

Atlantic City imposed a curfew from 8 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday as the city declared a state of emergency.

Looting continued at the city's outlets. Police used batons to subdue some in the street. One man's face was bloodied as he was arrested. People nearby were crying and screaming.

Six hours after a mostly peaceful protest began outside the police station, groups of people were moving around the outlets at the center of town, multiple storefronts were smashed, police were in riot gear and shields, and traffic was at a standstill.

"This is not cool. Unarmed, in the middle of the street," shouted Tniyah Kitt, who said police had pulled down a young woman in hijab. "I'm done. I'm fed up."

Police officers attempted to stop looting in the outlets. One officer returning sneakers to a Vans store said of George Floyd's death, "What happened in Minneapolis was a murder."

— Amy Rosenberg

Police cleared a crowd at 52nd and Walnut Street by firing tear gas and moving in armored vehicles.

After the crowd cleared, a man draped himself in a white sheet and walked toward the police officers. But another man pulled him back while telling the remaining crowd, “Everybody get together and strategize.”

— Maddie Hanna

The day after demonstrations and destruction in Center City, the focus Sunday evening instead was on West Philadelphia: As the city’s 6 p.m. curfew passed, the neighborhood — where police cars were smashed and looting began Sunday afternoon — became a hot spot, with police and people gathering there.

Police shot a gas onto 52nd Street just before 7 p.m., about an hour after they first sprayed gas at people on the street. Looters ran in and out of stores and ransacked a strip mall. People gathered in front of a police barricade at 52nd and Walnut, their eyes on an armored truck farther down the street as they passed out half-gallons of milk and shouted.

A street medic on 52nd Street told a reporter she had treated two women for wounds from rubber bullets and a few men for cuts and scrapes. She was walking down the street asking anyone if they needed hand sanitizer or medical help.

Michelle Rifken, 41, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said she believed the police’s presence had provoked the unrest she’s seen today. She had been pepper sprayed three times on Market Street earlier in the day, she said, and she said cops were firing rubber bullets.

“It was completely safe this morning, it was beautiful, it was peaceful. They came here, they’re a lightning rod for people’s anger. Seeing my neighborhood occupied by a militaristic police force? I am livid.”

A woman named Keisha, who’s lived in an apartment above a storefront on 52nd Street for five years, called the day’s events “Horrible. Crazy. Insane.”

— Maddie Hanna and Aubrey Whelan

The National Guard will move into Philadelphia Sunday evening to bolster police deployment as looting and unrest continued to grip several of the city’s neighborhoods, city officials said.

Police hoped the extra bodies would help avoid a situation like Saturday night, where looters ransacked Center City’s shopping corridors for hours without an officer in sight, Mayor Jim Kenney said at an evening news conference.

“It’s difficult to take those officers at 52nd and Chestnut who are having cars set on fire, dealing with looters at a corner store … and then divert those officers to another location,” he said. “We’d be overrun in both places.”

The national guardsmen will serve primarily in a support role for city law enforcement, city managing director Brian Abernathy said.

— Jeremy Roebuck

At City Hall in Atlantic City, police lined up in front of protesters and officers in riot gear marched down Pacific Avenue.

At the city’s Tanger Outlets, looting continued as firecrackers began going off near Arctic Avenue around 6:30 p.m.

Outlet store windows were smashed at Old Navy and other shops, and police stood in front of a Timberland store with a broken-in door.

Traffic crawled in front of the outlets as police sirens wailed and people shouted.

— Amy Rosenberg

Upper Darby Township announced a curfew Sunday night that will begin at 8 p.m. and remain in effect until 6 a.m. Monday.

Officials said residents may only leave their homes to work at essential businesses, to seek medical attention, or to seek assistance from law enforcement.

“These steps are being taken out of an abundance of caution and concern for public safety and we appreciate your cooperation,” Upper Darby Mayor Barbarann Keffer said in a statement.

— Laura McCrystal

The Wolf administration left open the possibility that the violence that has erupted in Philadelphia following peaceful protests of Floyd’s death might impact its decision to move the city into the yellow phase at the end of this week.

“The decision to move Philadelphia to the yellow phase will be made in coordination with state, county and health officials to determine if the county is ready to move," Wolf spokesperson Lyndsay Kensinger said in a statement.

Administration officials would not give any further details, except to say that the governor’s priority is “the health and safety of Pennsylvania residents.”

— Angela Couloumbis

Fajr Abu Bakr was out in West Philadelphia as the looting occurred because she got a phone call saying the place next to the 52nd Street businesses she owns was burning down.

"These are small businesses that they are doing this to. This is not protesting; they're being damn thieves," she said, her voice straining with emotion. "I'm very angry because this is beyond protesting."

She owns clothing store King's Fashion and a next-door daycare.

"This don’t have nothing to do with protesting or what happened to these boys. That’s not justice. This is not going to get nothing but more people hurt," she said.

— Tim Tai

Police sprayed gas at people in West Philadelphia as those gathered in the street ran and looters ransacked several stores.

Clouds of the gas, sprayed from an armored police vehicle just before the city’s 6 p.m. curfew began, swept across 52nd Street.

A man poured water over another man's face. One woman holding a Foot Locker bag ran as a police officer close behind sprayed her from a canister.

Looting continued on 52nd Street, including at ParkWest Town Center, a strip mall that includes a ShopRite and a Lowe’s. People carrying armfuls clothing walked through debris on the ground.

Speaking at an evening news briefing, Deputy Police Commissioner Christine Coulter confirmed police released gas on the street. She would not specify what kind of gas.

— Tim Tai, Jessica Griffin, and Alejandro Alvarez

— Chris Brennan

SEPTA will shut down all service on all its modes of transit in both Philadelphia and the suburbs at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The shutdown will remain in effect until at least 6 a.m. Monday, mirroring the city’s curfew.

All SEPTA service in the region will stop running, including the all buses and trolleys, the Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines, the Regional Rail and CCT/Paratransit service.

Updates on “possible service” for Monday morning will be announced later, SEPTA said.

“SEPTA is taking this action in support of the curfew announced by the City of Philadelphia,” said a statement from the transit authority. “It is also being done to ensure the safety of customers and employees amid the violent disturbances that have spread beyond the Center City area today.”

— Justine McDaniel

Looters ransacked several retail stores in West Philadelphia Sunday afternoon, including a Foot Locker on 52nd Street and several stores in the ParkWest Town Center.

— Rob Tornoe

After three hours of peaceful protests, Atlantic City demonstrators began breaking windows and looting store fronts on Atlantic Avenue.

Polo Ralph Lauren and Finish Line storefronts were smashed and the crowd — a much reduced number from earlier — walked throughout the city.

Several people looted the Polo Ralph Lauren store in the city’s outlet.

— Amy Rosenberg

Reading Terminal Market suffered minor damage after widespread looting in Center City Saturday night.

General manager Conor Murphy said several doors and food storage containers at a handful of merchant stalls were broken. The market, which has been closed Sundays during the pandemic, will reopen Monday if authorities deem it safe.

— Mike Klein

Police moved fast down 6th Street Sunday afternoon, chasing down protesters and setting up a perimeter with their bicycles.

At least two people were spotted on the ground, with their hands tied with zip ties.

A protester who didn’t want his name used says a group of about 75 people gathered at Philadelphia Police Department Headquarters to protest. He said they were marching peacefully with signs until two people started spray painting on the outside of a brick wall that’s part of Independence Mall, near the visitors’ center.

The minute that happened, the protester said police descended on the group.

— Maddie Hanna and Allison Steele

» READ MORE: After being targeted by protesters, Frank Rizzo statue to be moved within ‘a month or so,’ Mayor Kenney says

Police cars have been vandalized in West Philadelphia, according to news stations and footage from the scene.

Video shows vehicles ablaze or with smashed windows, looting, and crowds of people around 52nd Street near Chestnut and Market Streets.

– Patricia Madej

— Amy Rosenberg

President Trump weighed in on the unrest in Philadelphia on Twitter for the first time on Sunday, urging leaders to call in the National Guard.

Pennsylvania has activated the National Guard Sunday. In a news conference Sunday, Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said officials have National Guard requests for the City of Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

Trump also continued a streak of criticizing Democratic leaders and focusing on politics, as cities across the country deal with violence and destruction in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

— Rob Tornoe

— Chris Brennan

The demonstration against the killing of George Floyd resumed for a second day at City Hall.

Rev. Gregory Holston of Janes Memorial United Methodist Church called for reparations, asking white rally attendees to say, “Yes, I’m willing to give up the privilege and wealth that I have so others can have that wealth, so I can make recompense.

”Speaking of the rage visited upon cities this weekend, Holston said: “If you want to stop that, if you want to bring us together, if you really believe we can be a nation truly with equal justice for all ... ” then they must accept reparations.

Tracey Gordon, Philadelphia’s Register of Wills, addressed a crowd near the Octavius Catto statue.

"I feel the same way as you as a mother would feel if somebody had their knee on their neck and they was choking them to death,” Gordon said. “I would feel the same way you would feel if that was your child. These are all of our children. They deserve to have dignity.”

The peaceful protest headed west on Market Street around 3:30 p.m. Swarms of officers were also spotted heading west on Broad Street.

— Chris Brennan, Allison Steele, and Sean Walsh

Service along SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line is suspended in both directions “due to civil unrest and vandalism,” the authority announced.

Operations are suspended “until further notice.”

Broad Street Line trains will also pass over Fairmount, Spring Garden, Race-Vine, City Hall, Walnut-Locust, and Lombard-South Stations in both directions, while SEPTA’s buses aren’t running through Center City.

Updates can be found on SEPTA’s website.

— Patricia Madej

Officials announced that Philadelphia’s curfew will now begin at 6 p.m. Sunday night, two hours earlier than initially planned. It will remain in effect until 6 a.m. Monday morning.

— Chris Palmer

PATCO is running a limited service until Monday, the transit system announced Sunday.

Trains are running only in New Jersey, between PATCO’s Lindenwold and Broadway Stations. Service isn’t expected to resume until at least 6 a.m. Monday.

PATCO is running on a modified schedule amid the coronavirus.

— Patricia Madej

Philadelphia Police on Sunday afternoon reported another eight arrests, bringing the total number during the weekend’s demonstrations to 215.

As of 3 p.m., police said, six more people had been arrested for burglary or looting, while two more were given tickets.

Earlier Sunday, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw reported 207 arrests, the majority of which were tickets for violating curfew.

— Chris Palmer

Looting after unrest Saturday isn’t isolated to Center City, according to multiple reports and footage shared on social media.

Real Deal E store and other businesses on the 3000 block of Kensington Avenue were looted Sunday afternoon, according to CBSPhilly. Incidents were also reported in Port Richmond, according to Fox29.

— Patricia Madej

Rob Wasserman, owner of the Rittenhouse Square bistro Rouge, said authorities told him to close about 2:15 p.m. because the National Guard was planning to mobilize. The restaurant was operating at the time they were told to close.

The area around Rittenhouse Square was damaged Saturday. Neighboring restaurants Devon Seafood Grill and Parc, where two windows were broken overnight, did not open Sunday.

— Mike Klein

As state officials ready to assist counties in any ongoing demonstrations Sunday, Gov. Tom Wolf made a plea to protesters to remain peaceful during an afternoon news conference and to “please be safe.”

Wolf called Saturday “a challenging day for the Commonwealth.” In Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg, “some people took advantage of these peaceful protests and they incited violence and looting.” Wolf has worked closely with the cities, and a signed a “disaster emergency declaration” to help.

“To the folks out there who are demonstrating, as you exercise your rights today, do it in a way that honors democracy,” Wolf said. “Do it in a way that honors democracy, do it in a way that reaffirms its noble potential, and do it in a way that celebrates the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Wolf was joined by Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Sunday, who said officials have National Guard requests for the City of Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

The King of Prussia mall “is potentially one of the resource requests we’re looking at for Montgomery County,” Padfield said. Demonstrations at the mall broke out Saturday, while Upper Merion police issued a curfew Saturday night, and again for Sunday.

The Guard could provide local enforcement with support on traffic control points, for example, or other issues that would “relieve them to be able to actually be more engaged with the protest.”

“The National Guard is not going to necessarily be out on the front lines, it’s really the law enforcement in those jurisdictions that really have the day-to-day coordination with the citizens,” Padfield said.

— Pat Madej

Upper Merion Township issued a declaration of a “township emergency” and enacted a curfew for Sunday night after people looted shops at the he King of Prussia Mall Saturday night.

The curfew will be in effect in Upper Merion beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday night through 6 a.m. Monday morning.

Nine people were arrested in connection with the looting at the mall, but none were Upper Merion residents, officials said.

— Laura McCrystal

Philadelphia Police arrested 207 people during Saturday’s protest, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference Sunday, the vast majority of whom will be issued tickets for violating the city’s curfew order or failing to disperse.

Of those taken into custody, Outlaw said, 149 will be issued code violation notices, or tickets: 138 for curfew violations, and 11 for failing to disperse.

The rest are expected to face criminal charges, Outlaw said: 48 people for burglary or looting, three for assaulting police, three for weapons violations, and four for theft. The commissioner said the arrest totals “will continue to grow as arrestees are continuing to be processed.”

Thirteen police officers were injured during Saturday’s demonstrations, with Outlaw saying their injuries included chemical burns and head injuries. One officer suffered a broken arm after being “run over” by a car, the commissioner said. He remains hospitalized.

Outlaw said they had not confirmed the number of injuries to people in the crowds.

She conceded that police struggled to catch up to the pace of last night’s unrest. As looters smashed store windows along Walnut and Chestnut Street no officers were seen for hours.“

The [policing] strategy did come into place,” she said. “It didn’t come into place as quickly as I had hoped. Once the curfew was enacted, it made things a lot easier. What we’ll see now is setting the tone early, not waiting until 8 p.m.”

On Twitter, the police union weighed in with frustration after the Police Department sent out a tweet informing people how to file complaints against officers.

— Chris Palmer and Jeremy Roebuck

Philadelphia elections officials rushed to relocate staffers and tens of thousands of ballots from City Hall this weekend as they prepared for Tuesday’s election with unrest unfolding around them.

No ballots were affected during the protests and there has so far been no impact on how Tuesday's election will be run, said Nick Custodio, deputy city commissioner under Lisa Deeley, the chair of the city commissioners, who run elections.

On Saturday, as protesters broke windows, set fire to cars, and tussled with police outside City Hall, the commissioners sent their staffers inside either home or to their other office at Delaware Avenue and Spring Garden Street.

They also moved upward of 30,000 or so ballots from City Hall — where mail ballots are sent — to that satellite office, where much of the logistical work of running elections takes place normally anyway. About 20,000 of the ballots were moved Sunday morning and delivery of incoming ballots has been diverted from City Hall.

A monitored mail ballot drop box at the south portal of City Hall remains in place, Custodio said, and the ballots inside were collected as staffers relocated.

"So far, there has been no disruption to the election prep," Custodio said Sunday afternoon. "We are monitoring the situation and, right now, there has not been an impact on the election."

— Jonathan Lai

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge has been “closed until further notice,” according to the Delaware River Port Authority.

The agency said the cause was police activity but did not elaborate. The pedestrian walkway is also closed, the DRPA said, while PATCO service “remains unaffected at this time.”

It was not immediately clear if the closure was related to Philadelphia beginning to limit most vehicle traffic in Center City on Sunday.

— Chris Palmer

Protesters in Atlantic City put their hands behind their backs and laid down in the street in front of the Public Safety Building Sunday afternoon.

“Mama, I can’t breathe,” protesters said, echoing the final words of George Floyd.

About 300 people marched peacefully along Atlantic Avenue, past the back of the old Trump Plaza, and then by the outlet shops to the end of the Atlantic City Expressway, where they shut down traffic into the city (but let two ambulances go by).

“This is a hurtful thing for all of us,” Atlantic City Councilman Jeffree Fauntleroy said. “I believe in solidarity and unity, and I think that’s what it’s going to be like today in Atlantic City.

— Amy Rosenberg

Mayor Jim Kenney said Sunday that the Frank Rizzo statue in front of the Municipal Services Building — which became a central target of Saturday’s protests — would be moved from the plaza “hopefully by another month or so.”

The debate over moving the statue of the controversial former mayor and police commissioner has lasted for years. Kenney said he has “never liked” the statue, but that it has been difficult to move because it is bolted into stairs that are above a concourse used by people every day.

Kenney had first promised to move the statue in 2017. He said Sunday: “We’re going to accelerate its movement.”

“I can’t wait to see it go away,” the mayor said.

The statue — which was vandalized during Saturday’s demonstration as protesters sought to pull it down — was clean again by Sunday morning. Kenney said the cleaning was part of a broader effort to restore the area around City Hall, where there was additional vandalism and cars were burned during Saturday’s demonstrations.“

It got cleaned with everything else that got cleaned,” Kenney said. “There was no intention of cleaning up for any particular political reason or any special reason.”

— Chris Palmer

Philadelphia Police will limit access to Center City on Sunday, closing down roads and other access points in an attempt to stave off violence that accompanied protests on Saturday.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference that officers would begin diverting most people away from Center City between South and Vine Streets and the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers as early as Sunday afternoon.

Business owners and residents will still be allowed to come and go, she said, but others would be turned back.

A citywide curfew also will begin at 8 p.m. for the second night in a row. The measures come as volunteers spent the morning cleaning up the damage left behind after a series of peaceful protests on Saturday, at which demonstrators decried the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, grew chaotic and violent later in the afternoon.

More protests were expected Sunday.

Mayor Jim Kenney, speaking at the news conference, choked up when describing the efforts to “It was just amazing to walk the streets this morning and see people bright and hopeful and working hard to show that we’re better than what happened last night,” Kenney said.

— Chris Palmer and Jeremy Roebuck

As a Philadelphia police officer remains hospitalized from a hit-and-run incident, the head of Philly’s police union issued a stern warning Sunday that assaulting a cop, vandalism, and looting “will not be tolerated.”

Thirteen officers were injured during the demonstration, said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw. Of the 140 arrested, two were for assaulting a police officer, according to the police department.

FOP Lodge 5 President John McNesby said in a statement that officers showed “incredible restraint, bravery and courage” during Saturday’s demonstrations.

“While our officers were literally in the line of fire attempting to keep the city safe, several Philadelphia politicians were running to get themselves on television and many never acknowledged the sacrifice and dangerous conditions these officers faced,” McNesby said in a statement.

An officer was hospitalized with a broken arm after being struck by a hit-and-run SUV at Seventh and Chestnut Streets, police said.

The PPD also shared information for how to file complaints against police on its Twitter account Sunday.

— Patricia Madej

Amid a Saturday night of destruction in Center City, Joe’s Pizza on 16th Street near Sansom emerged unscathed.

Casimira Villico, whose husband, Ernesto, opened the shop in 1987, believed that it was spared because Ernesto and his nephew Vito Lizzo stood watch at the door till 3 a.m. Meanwhile, the Happy Rooster, a bar next door, and a Marathon Grill location across the street, were damaged, as was Farmer’s Keep, at 20th and Ludlow Streets, which reported on Facebook it was “broke into and destroyed."

— Michael Klein and Patricia Madej

LOS ANGELES — The mayor of Atlanta, one of dozens of U.S. cities hit by massive protests, has a message for demonstrators: “If you were out protesting last night, you probably need to go get a COVID test this week.”

As more beaches, churches, mosques, schools and businesses reopened worldwide, civil unrest in the United States over repeated racial injustice is raising fears of new coronavirus outbreaks in a country that has more infections and deaths than anywhere else in the world. And it’s not just in the U.S. — London hosted a large antiracism protest Sunday that certainly violated government social distancing rules.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms warned that “there is still a pandemic in America that’s killing black and brown people at higher numbers.”

“We have two crises that are sandwiched on top of one other,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.

Violent protests over the death of George Floyd by police have shaken the country from Minneapolis to New York, from Atlanta to Los Angeles.

» READ MORE:  Will the protests cause a spike in COVID-19 cases? Wait two weeks.

The number of those arrested after a violent night in Center City has grown.

Police now report 140 arrests, 74 for curfew violations, 48 for looting and burglary, three for firearms violations, two for assaulting a police officer, two for theft and 11 additional arrests for civil violation notices.

— Patricia Madej

Looting intensified in Chestnut Street as crowds swelled into the morning. At Footlocker and Modell’s, on 16th and Chestnut Streets, people moved in and out of the doors with bags of clothes and shoes.

Police arrived around 10:30 a.m. and the crowds began to disperse, but confrontations intensified outside Modell’s, with an officer pushing some people outside the store and other demonstrators screaming in their faces. Police are now guarding the stores.

Men were boarding up the windows of Giovani’s Bar and Grill across the street.

— Ellie Rushing

As Philadelphia shot up in flames Saturday, and cops forcefully cracked down on residents protesting police brutality and the death of George Floyd, Camden decided to take a different path.

There, the city’s officers, including Police Chief Joe Wysocki, locked arms with activists, clergy and other protesters calling for “justice” for George Floyd.

“In order to make a difference you have to stand in solidarity,” march organizer, Tawanda Jones, 47, said. “The police can’t do their job without community, we all need each other at the end of the day.”

Hundreds turned out for the march in Camden, which stretched from Mount Ephraim Avenue to the police administration building. News reports indicate it was remarkably peaceful compared to the violence seen in Philadelphia.

“The city had a good day,” Camden County spokesperson Dan Keashen said. “That was a testament to residents, clergy and police officers.”

The three-alarm fire that consumed multiple stores along Walnut Street near 17th Street was placed under control at 1:11 a.m., according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

Crews remained in the area Sunday morning to address hot spots from the blaze.

The Philadelphia Fire Department responded to 703 EMS incidents and 156 fire incidents Saturday, according to the department. Four police cars were set on fire during the demonstration.

— Patricia Madej

Some in the region addressed the devastation they awoke to Sunday with prayer, among them was Herb Lusk III, youth minister and son of the pastor at Greater Exodus Baptist Church in North Philadelphia.

During a livestreamed service, he sent “our prayers to the families of the victims of the police brutality. Prayers for those who went forth to protest peacefully and then things got out of hand."

“God hears the prayers of black people all over the world,” Lusk added, calling for a breaking of “this chain of hate."

“It is okay to have anger, but it is what you do with that anger,” he said.

— Joseph DiStefano

MINNEAPOLIS — Another night of unrest in every corner of the country left charred and shattered landscapes in dozens of American cities Sunday as years of festering frustrations over the mistreatment of African Americans at the hands of police boiled over in expressions of rage met with tear gas and rubber bullets.

In Indianapolis, police were investigating multiple shootings, including one that left a person dead amid the protests — adding to deaths in Detroit and Minneapolis in recent days.

In Minneapolis, the city where the protests began, police, state troopers and National Guard members moved in soon after an 8 p.m. curfew took effect to break up protests, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to clear streets outside a police precinct and elsewhere.

In New York City, dangerous confrontations flared repeatedly as officers made arrests and cleared streets. A video showed two NYPD cruisers lurching into a crowd of demonstrators who were pushing a barricade against one of them and pelting it with objects. Several people were knocked to the ground, and it was unclear if anyone was hurt.

Few corners of America were untouched, from protesters setting fires inside Reno’s city hall, to police launching tear gas at rock-throwing demonstrators in Fargo, North Dakota.

“The mistakes that are happening are not mistakes. They’re repeated violent terrorist offenses and people need to stop killing black people,” Brooklyn protester Meryl Makielski said.

— Associated Press

The employees of Philadelphia Runner returned to their Center City store Sunday morning to find it completely destroyed — the windows bashed in, shoes and clothing stolen, and the floors flooded with water.

“We came down thinking we’d clean up, but I think it’s a little beyond what we were expecting,” said Ross Martinson, one of the owners.

The flagship store, which is located at 16th and Sansom Streets, where a majority of the violence and looting was focused Saturday night, was unrecognizable beyond its sign out front. The parts of the floor that weren’t covered in glass and strewed about clothing were flooded with water after the fire sprinklers were triggered by the smoke and vandalism.

“What is left is mush,” said Martinson.“ I cried on the way down and tried to get it out then,” he said. “And I go in and out of wanting to cry again.”

“We were looking forward to opening next week,” he said. But now, the entire store will likely need to be gutted, exacerbating the financial stress the local store was already facing due to the coronavirus.

“I knew there would be a lot of damage,” he said, “but I didn’t think it would be this bad.”

— Ellie Rushing

The air smelled of smoke and the streets were covered with smothered ash as residents wandered through Philadelphia streets Sunday morning, taking in the overnight destruction.

“I can’t believe it,” one man said. “I can’t stop walking or I’ll start crying,” another woman told her daughter as they stepped over a burned mannequin. Amid people standing and taking photos of the aftermath, dozens began cleaning up.

Jake Newman, who lives in an apartment on the corner of 17th and Walnut Streets, where a majority of the vandalism and looting unfolded, swept up broken glass and gathered the scattered hangers.

“That’s what we do when it’s in your neighborhood,” said Newman, who moved to Philadelphia from Dallas 10 months ago. “It doesn’t matter who did it.”

Newman said he took his dog for a walk around 5 p.m., but hurried home as the “atmosphere was thicker” and tension among the crowds grew.

“You could hear the windows smashing,” he said. “And you could smell the trash burning” from the Dumpsters that were on fire. “Then there was nothing but fire and police sirens."

Near City Hall, the Frank Rizzo statue, which had been vandalized and attempted to be burned, was cleaned. Around the corner, the Ben Franklin statue remained defaced. A storage pod in Dilworth Plaza was nothing but a structure after it was completely burned, and the park’s mobile Starbucks and cafe were nearly completely destroyed.

— Ellie Rushing

None of those detained have yet been charged, according to lawyers involved in representing them. Staff members from the court’s pretrial services unit, located at Seventh and Market Streets, and the District Attorney’s Office were sent home Saturday evening for their own safety.

While prosecutors are expected to meet today to work out who will be charged and with what, and with arraignments expected to begin later this afternoon, police issued a breakdown of those detained: 52 arrests for curfew violations, 43 for looting and burglary, three for firearms violations, one for assaulting a police officer, one for theft and nine additional arrests for civil violation notices.

— Jeremy Roebuck

Disruptions continue for SEPTA service Sunday “due to the civil unrest in Center City Philadelphia,” according to the authority.

Bus routes 2, 4, 5, 9, 12, 16, 17, 21, 23, 32, 33, 38, 42, 45, 47, 57, 61, 124, and 125 will not operate through Center City for the rest of the day. SEPTA curbed service Saturday evening amid police activity in Center City.

Most SEPTA transit service resumed normal schedules earlier this month, though the authority still only encourages essential travel.

Looting too has continued into Sunday morning, as passersby were seen grabbing clothes or entering stores vandalized last night.

— Patricia Madej, Ellie Rushing

This information was updated from an earlier post.

As a citywide curfew lifts and the sun rises over Philadelphia, the focus turns to cleanup efforts after Saturday’s peaceful protest over the death of George Floyd turned destructive.

Philadelphia police reported 109 arrests, 52 for curfew violations and 43 for looting. Nearly every store was vandalized or looted on Walnut Street between 18th and 17th Streets, the pavement covered in glass from shattered windows. Hangers, boxes, and shoes were scattered from stores like Ann Taylor Loft, Steve Madden, and Vans early Sunday.

Water, too, flooded the street, as firefighters drenched three buildings, including the Dr. Martens store at 17th and Walnut Streets, that had been burned.

Phrases like “Justice 4 Floyd” and “You did this” were spray-painted across windows. Mannequins and clothes were burned and scattered.

Dozens of residents walked through the street for the first time, photographing the aftermath as store alarms sounded. A few walked from store to store to start cleaning up the litter.

Another citywide curfew goes into effect for Philadelphia at 8 p.m. A “Bring A Broom” event calling on Philadelphians to help in a cleanup effort is slated Sunday morning. State Sen. Anthony Williams is expected to share details on a cleanup event in West Philly Sunday afternoon.

“We need to remember that people are suffering under the weight of oppression,” Williams said in a statement. “We must focus our efforts on rooting out racism. People are in pain and need to be heard and I stand with all Philadelphians who protested peacefully yesterday. Those who chose to loot and vandalize only serve to deepen the divide in our city.”

— Ellie Rushing and Patricia Madej

» READ MORE: Peaceful Philly protests over George Floyd’s death give way to violence, looting, arrests