<nav class="articleLabel" aria-label="articleLabel"></nav>Downtown Portland retailers still reeling from fiery riot and city’s meek response: ‘It was chaos'
Noha Kassab, second from right, and her family stand outside their boarded up jewelry story in downtown Portland. By the time the Kassabs got to the store amid a riot in the early morning hours of May 30 every diamond and other precious gem in the store was gone.
Noha Kassab can divide her life as a downtown Portland merchant into two parts: The four decades leading up to the early morning of May 30 and the month since that night’s rioting, fire and theft.
It was shortly after 1 a.m. when Kassab, 58, got the frantic phone call from her daughter. People broke into the family store, Kassab Jewelers at Southwest Broadway and Alder downtown. Kassab called 911. She was told the police would be there when they could. Fifteen minutes later, she called again. Same answer.
Her sons and her son-in-law decided they needed to secure their store. “I begged my boys not to go,” Kassab said. “The cops had told me not to go down there. I was yelling at them not to do it.”
Downtown was a battle zone. Physical confrontations erupted in some stories where the owners tried to keep thieves at bay.
“It was chaos on the streets,” Rami Kassab said. “Broken glass was everywhere. There was yelling and screaming, teargas and grenades, people running down the street.”
What the Kassab brothers didn’t find was any jewelry. By the time they got there the store had been completely cleaned out.
The impressions of that night are fraught with issues of race and class. It was the first night of large demonstrations in Portland after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
The protests have continued every day since that first night in May as the Black Lives Matters campaign has gained momentum and ignited a national reckoning over racial disparities.
It’s been a month since five hours of upheaval descended on downtown Portland and the collective shock generated by the looting and arson of the May 30 riot has faded. The plight of these business owners, many of them successful and relatively prosperous, has been overshadowed by the global pandemic, a deep national recession, record unemployment and the most vibrant civil rights movement in generations.
But the merchants remember. And they are furious, not only at the people who broke into their stores but also at the police for failing to intervene. There were hundreds of officers on the streets that night. Some can be seen on security video sitting on their parked motorcycles, driving by their stores, some even peering into shops.
Downtown merchants have complained for years about lawlessness, open drug use and homeless camps. Those issues haven’t stopped a construction spree that has brought more apartments, offices and several new hotels to Portland’s urban core.
The riot and break-ins came just as downtown retailers were hoping some degree of normalcy was returning. Some, like the Kassabs, had only been open nine days – they’d been shut down by coronavirus restrictions -- when their stores were hit on May 30.
Nordstrom didn’t reopen its downtown store until last week, because of the looting. Apple still hasn’t reopened its downtown store, which was one of the first targets that night.
Apple’s store became an impromptu memorial to victims of police violence, with its boarded-up windows now hosting an elaborate, colorful mural.
A Portland Police Bureau spokesman pointed out that 16 alleged thieves were arrested that night. After reviewing security video, though, the Kassabs estimate that 70 to 100 people invaded their store alone.
“We felt as if we had to fend for our ourselves, that we were all alone and we had to do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves,” said Rana Kassab, Noha Kassab’s daughter and president of the family business. “This is more than a store. My dad and mom built this up from scratch. What they built was violated and destroyed. It’s been a huge emotional struggle.”
Other business owners tell a similar story. Their own security systems showed looting and police officers in close proximity. But the officers did not intervene.
The Mercantile, a locally owned clothing store that has been in business for 45 years, also got hit that night. Eric Murfitt, controller of the company and nephew of owner Victoria Taylor, said he was advised by the police to avoid the area. So he watched his business get trashed on a live video feed from the store’s security system.
“People were just walking by, police cars go by with their lights flashing, and the looting never stopped,” Murfitt said. “They were not worried about getting caught. They didn’t know the value of the merchandise they were stealing. They were just grabbing stuff.”
Phil Tobin has run H&B Jewelry and Loan on Southwest 3rd Avenue for more than 50 years. He, too, watched the thieves grab his merchandise on live security footage.
“You can see the police headed down 3rd Avenue southbound,” Tobin said. “You can see the flashing lights. And there’s a crowd of people around my shop which has its windows broken out by that time. And no one stops.”
“I think it’s fair to say I’m angry and hurt,” Tobin concluded.
It was around midnight when demonstrators at the Justice Center dispersed. A faction of demonstrators broke off from the main group and began smashing windows, breaking into businesses and making off with anything they could carry. It went on for five hours. A dumpster was engulfed in flames at Southwest 4th Avenue. Demonstrators crashed the windows of police cruisers with electric scooters. Thieves hit the high-value retailers - the jewelers, the electronics dealers, the liquor and cannabis shops.
Portland civil rights leaders, including city Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, were furious that criminals were using the racial justice movement as cover.
“I believe there was a small group of people who came out last night with every intention of tearing stuff up and they were going to tear it up no matter how many of them there were,”
she said at a press conference the next day. “But I want to be crystal clear: What happened last night had nothing to do with Black America. It was not about standing up for Black people’s rights. It was not about acknowledging the death and harm that has taken place.”
Murfitt and Noha Kassab, herself an immigrant from Lebanon, say they are enthusiastic supporters of Black Lives Matter and the cause of racial justice. Murfitt added that the security footage shows most of the perpetrators looting his store that night were white.
But their sympathies with the cause do not alleviate their fury at the city. Kassab has hired a lawyer to explore legal options.
It’s been a difficult time for the Kassabs. Noha’s husband, Pierre, who founded Kassab Jewelers, passed away in 2018 after suffering a heart attack. The company bounced back and enjoyed a successful 2019.
Then came the coronavirus, Oregon’s stay-home order, and the riot.
In a survey conducted by the Portland Business Alliance, 93 downtown business owners ballparked their losses at more than $23 million in 2020. While most of that was lost revenue, due to the coronavirus shutdown, more than $4.8 million was in property damage suffered in the riot.
Amy Lewin, spokeswoman for the Portland Business Alliance, said the blocks of boarded up storefronts and the lack of foot traffic reflect a new reality in downtown. “People are hurting,” Lewin said. “We have our work cut out for us as a community.”
The Kassabs estimate their losses at $2 million. Insurance will cover the damage to the store and displays. But because the store was closed at the time of the theft, insurance will cover just 10 percent of the $1 million worth of stolen merchandise, Noha Kassab said.
None of the business owners interviewed for this story said they have since been contacted by the police bureau or by the mayor’s office.
Police Bureau spokeswoman Lt. Tina Jones said she didn’t know whether officers have since reached out to business owners.
“Our resources have been focused on life safety issues and priority calls for service for a good portion of the past several weeks,” she said. “Our community members, including our business owners are valuable and it pains us to see the devastation wrought on our community. We are doing everything we can with the resources we have available to respond to emergency calls for service and investigate crimes that have been reported.”
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office did not respond to questions about that night and retailers’ grievances.
- Oregon Live - https://www.oregonlive.com/business...n-to-rioting-thieves-where-was-the-mayor.html
Noha Kassab, second from right, and her family stand outside their boarded up jewelry story in downtown Portland. By the time the Kassabs got to the store amid a riot in the early morning hours of May 30 every diamond and other precious gem in the store was gone.
Noha Kassab can divide her life as a downtown Portland merchant into two parts: The four decades leading up to the early morning of May 30 and the month since that night’s rioting, fire and theft.
It was shortly after 1 a.m. when Kassab, 58, got the frantic phone call from her daughter. People broke into the family store, Kassab Jewelers at Southwest Broadway and Alder downtown. Kassab called 911. She was told the police would be there when they could. Fifteen minutes later, she called again. Same answer.
Her sons and her son-in-law decided they needed to secure their store. “I begged my boys not to go,” Kassab said. “The cops had told me not to go down there. I was yelling at them not to do it.”
Downtown was a battle zone. Physical confrontations erupted in some stories where the owners tried to keep thieves at bay.
“It was chaos on the streets,” Rami Kassab said. “Broken glass was everywhere. There was yelling and screaming, teargas and grenades, people running down the street.”
What the Kassab brothers didn’t find was any jewelry. By the time they got there the store had been completely cleaned out.
The impressions of that night are fraught with issues of race and class. It was the first night of large demonstrations in Portland after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
The protests have continued every day since that first night in May as the Black Lives Matters campaign has gained momentum and ignited a national reckoning over racial disparities.
It’s been a month since five hours of upheaval descended on downtown Portland and the collective shock generated by the looting and arson of the May 30 riot has faded. The plight of these business owners, many of them successful and relatively prosperous, has been overshadowed by the global pandemic, a deep national recession, record unemployment and the most vibrant civil rights movement in generations.
But the merchants remember. And they are furious, not only at the people who broke into their stores but also at the police for failing to intervene. There were hundreds of officers on the streets that night. Some can be seen on security video sitting on their parked motorcycles, driving by their stores, some even peering into shops.
Downtown merchants have complained for years about lawlessness, open drug use and homeless camps. Those issues haven’t stopped a construction spree that has brought more apartments, offices and several new hotels to Portland’s urban core.
The riot and break-ins came just as downtown retailers were hoping some degree of normalcy was returning. Some, like the Kassabs, had only been open nine days – they’d been shut down by coronavirus restrictions -- when their stores were hit on May 30.
Nordstrom didn’t reopen its downtown store until last week, because of the looting. Apple still hasn’t reopened its downtown store, which was one of the first targets that night.
Apple’s store became an impromptu memorial to victims of police violence, with its boarded-up windows now hosting an elaborate, colorful mural.
A Portland Police Bureau spokesman pointed out that 16 alleged thieves were arrested that night. After reviewing security video, though, the Kassabs estimate that 70 to 100 people invaded their store alone.
“We felt as if we had to fend for our ourselves, that we were all alone and we had to do whatever is necessary to protect ourselves,” said Rana Kassab, Noha Kassab’s daughter and president of the family business. “This is more than a store. My dad and mom built this up from scratch. What they built was violated and destroyed. It’s been a huge emotional struggle.”
Other business owners tell a similar story. Their own security systems showed looting and police officers in close proximity. But the officers did not intervene.
The Mercantile, a locally owned clothing store that has been in business for 45 years, also got hit that night. Eric Murfitt, controller of the company and nephew of owner Victoria Taylor, said he was advised by the police to avoid the area. So he watched his business get trashed on a live video feed from the store’s security system.
“People were just walking by, police cars go by with their lights flashing, and the looting never stopped,” Murfitt said. “They were not worried about getting caught. They didn’t know the value of the merchandise they were stealing. They were just grabbing stuff.”
Phil Tobin has run H&B Jewelry and Loan on Southwest 3rd Avenue for more than 50 years. He, too, watched the thieves grab his merchandise on live security footage.
“You can see the police headed down 3rd Avenue southbound,” Tobin said. “You can see the flashing lights. And there’s a crowd of people around my shop which has its windows broken out by that time. And no one stops.”
“I think it’s fair to say I’m angry and hurt,” Tobin concluded.
It was around midnight when demonstrators at the Justice Center dispersed. A faction of demonstrators broke off from the main group and began smashing windows, breaking into businesses and making off with anything they could carry. It went on for five hours. A dumpster was engulfed in flames at Southwest 4th Avenue. Demonstrators crashed the windows of police cruisers with electric scooters. Thieves hit the high-value retailers - the jewelers, the electronics dealers, the liquor and cannabis shops.
Portland civil rights leaders, including city Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, were furious that criminals were using the racial justice movement as cover.
“I believe there was a small group of people who came out last night with every intention of tearing stuff up and they were going to tear it up no matter how many of them there were,”
she said at a press conference the next day. “But I want to be crystal clear: What happened last night had nothing to do with Black America. It was not about standing up for Black people’s rights. It was not about acknowledging the death and harm that has taken place.”
Murfitt and Noha Kassab, herself an immigrant from Lebanon, say they are enthusiastic supporters of Black Lives Matter and the cause of racial justice. Murfitt added that the security footage shows most of the perpetrators looting his store that night were white.
But their sympathies with the cause do not alleviate their fury at the city. Kassab has hired a lawyer to explore legal options.
It’s been a difficult time for the Kassabs. Noha’s husband, Pierre, who founded Kassab Jewelers, passed away in 2018 after suffering a heart attack. The company bounced back and enjoyed a successful 2019.
Then came the coronavirus, Oregon’s stay-home order, and the riot.
In a survey conducted by the Portland Business Alliance, 93 downtown business owners ballparked their losses at more than $23 million in 2020. While most of that was lost revenue, due to the coronavirus shutdown, more than $4.8 million was in property damage suffered in the riot.
Amy Lewin, spokeswoman for the Portland Business Alliance, said the blocks of boarded up storefronts and the lack of foot traffic reflect a new reality in downtown. “People are hurting,” Lewin said. “We have our work cut out for us as a community.”
The Kassabs estimate their losses at $2 million. Insurance will cover the damage to the store and displays. But because the store was closed at the time of the theft, insurance will cover just 10 percent of the $1 million worth of stolen merchandise, Noha Kassab said.
None of the business owners interviewed for this story said they have since been contacted by the police bureau or by the mayor’s office.
Police Bureau spokeswoman Lt. Tina Jones said she didn’t know whether officers have since reached out to business owners.
“Our resources have been focused on life safety issues and priority calls for service for a good portion of the past several weeks,” she said. “Our community members, including our business owners are valuable and it pains us to see the devastation wrought on our community. We are doing everything we can with the resources we have available to respond to emergency calls for service and investigate crimes that have been reported.”
Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office did not respond to questions about that night and retailers’ grievances.
- Oregon Live - https://www.oregonlive.com/business...n-to-rioting-thieves-where-was-the-mayor.html
