Massive looting in San Francisco’s central Union Square on Friday evening led local police to limit car access to the plaza, which is the centerpiece of the downtown area and one of the most popular tourist destinations on the cable car route.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday that gangs of looters emptied out high-end stores the night before, including Louis Vuitton:

 

Union Square was in turmoil Friday night, as looters and vandals ransacked high-end retailers including Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent. Dramatic videos on social media showed masked people running with their arms loaded with goods, followed by a swift police response as officers ran to a car and broke windows with batons while a patrol car raced up to block it from leaving.

The mayhem was a vivid contrast to the night before, when luxury Swiss watchmaker Omega celebrated the opening of its new Union Square boutique with a ritzy event at the de Young Museum, where supermodel Cindy Crawford walked the red carpet with her daughter, Kaia Gerber.

Those two events, on the cusp of the crucial holiday season, encapsulate the hopes and challenges of a storied shopping area that has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

…

 

“What you saw last night was horrible,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said at a news conference Saturday afternoon next to the Macy’s Christmas tree as skaters twirled in the seasonal ice rink and bag-toting shoppers snapped selfies. “We can’t allow that to happen. If you come to our city to commit these types of crimes, you will be held accountable.”

 

San Francisco has been at the forefront of left-wing cities in “criminal justice reform” and police reform. Earlier this year, the mayor announced that the city would redistribute over $100 million from law enforcement to projects aimed at helping the black community, though the final budget increased police funding.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin is facing a recall election after his lenient approach to “quality-of-life” crimes has provoked outrage in a city whose residents are beleaguered by petty crime, public drug use, defecation on city sidewalks, and general malaise.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.