Anarchy Breaks Out in New York City

The hours before the 11 p.m. curfew in New York City were characterized by chaos and crime.

Midtown Manhattan was riven with packs of young looters making hit-and-run actions against retail shops, including the storied Herald Square Macy’s flagship Store. At least a dozen other stores were attacked, vandalized, or looted.

The looters played cat-and-mouse with the New York Police Department, smashing and grabbing one shop and moving on before the police arrived. Nonetheless, the NYPD arrested dozens of people in Midtown Manhattan, a spokesperson for the NYPD said.

One source familiar with the matter said 200 had been arrested on various charges.

Several small shops and bodegas were looted in Midtown. Along Fifth Avenue, high-end fashion retail stores had their windows smashed and merchandise lifted. But the looters rampaged high and low, looting shops selling cheap tourist souvenirs as well as high-end jewelry shops. Massive chaos broke out when some shops in New York’s diamond district were broken into, the second night in a row of attacks on the diamond dealers.

As far south as New York’s Lowest East Side, packs of young men are ransacking retail stores and robbing passersby, according to people in the area.