SPOKANE, Wash. — For hours after a peaceful protest, chaos ensued in downtown Spokane, and businesses were on high alert.
The situation downtown was a lot calmer Monday afternoon when compared to Sunday night, and the cleanup process ensued early Monday morning. Many people are just grateful the damage didn’t escalate too much.
“We were here just to make sure our friends didn’t lose their shop,” said Cory Hovanec, who stood guard at Kung Fu Vape Shop. “They’ve spent seven years building this place and they could lose it all in one night. We weren’t going to let that happen.”
The vape shop was right next to some of the action that happened on Sunday. A police car was vandalized near the building, and seconds later, they witnessed officers make an arrest.
“It was intense,” Hovanec said.
Many of the businesses downtown have their own individual story of what they remember from Sunday night.
By this morning, much of the graffiti that was sprayed onto windows and brick walls had already been scrubbed off. Canisters of tear gas and rubber bullets were no longer in the middle of the street.
John Waite is the owner of Aunties Bookstore and collected some of the debris left behind from officers.
“This one is the smoke projectile,” he described. “This is what they shoot.”
Waite watched the entire situation unfold but most importantly, he’s grateful things didn’t reach the point that could’ve harmed his business.
Further down Main Street, the Nike store has its doors boarded up after having the glass shattered.
Wooden boards can also be found on the Wheatland Bank across from Riverfront Park. Places like Boo Radley's delayed reopening because of the events that took place.