INDIANAPOLIS — Business owners and the community woke up Saturday morning to review the damage after protests turned violent Friday night in downtown Indianapolis.
The protests stem from the recent deadly incidents between police and civilians, including the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Boards are now covering shattered windows and business owners spent Saturday cleaning up.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett says at least 30 businesses were damaged. Some of business owners and employees called 911 from inside their shops because they were fearful of what was going on around them.
"I don't know what the answer is, but this is not the answer," Chris Karnavis, the owner of Jack's Donuts, said. "Destroying anything is not the answer."
He closed his shop Saturday to clean up the damage left behind. Protesters smashed windows and stole from him.
"This is devastating and how do we recover from this?" Karnavis said.
The windows to Georgio's Pizza were also broken. Both owners say they've never seen anything like this before and fear crowds could return Saturday night.
"It was like being in a war zone," Karnavis said. "They were pepper spraying downtown."
Downtown was filled with the anger after the death of Floyd and sounds of glass shattering and alarms going off.
"Some people may think it was too much, however, we have done peaceful protests," Sarah France said. "Where did that get us? We are showing you this is how you have torn us down. We are now tearing you down."
Window repair companies were working to help clean up the damage Saturday, wondering if they will need to return.
"Small businesses had to fight to survive over the last two months," George Stergiopoulos, owner of Georgio's Pizza said. "This is not something we needed."
Hogsett says he plans to help business owners recover.
