Security Van Tires Slashed

Submission

“Are people within prisons/jail/detention the only ones who are expected to engage in material disruption? To take risks? Are we just vessels of emotional solidarity?”

“Where are the vulnerabilities to prison management’s morale and how does one remove the will of guards to endure?”

Security guards protect property. They help the police put people in prisons, they are part of the prison industrial complex. As people attack property private security acts as the auxiliary of the prison and police state. With this in mind as well as reading about the conditions at SCI Rockview we slashed the tires of a Securitas van. This was a small, easy, and replicate-able action that you can do with a friend. We agree with the comrade at SCI Rockview that “an assault on both fronts” is necessary, targets are everywhere. In the amerikkkan hellscape our lives are deeply embedded in the infrastructure of confinement. This is why we chose to attack the security van. Small actions like these can build capacity to be able to break down the prison walls.

Destroy PA-DOC
Fuck security guards
Fire to the prisons

-some anarchists

Runaway ram in Mount Laurel, NJ

from Unravel

A ram that escaped from a property in Mount Laurel was corralled by police Friday morning after having spent several days wandering the South Jersey township.

The male bighorn sheep was captured on a residential property following “a fairly extensive foot pursuit,” police said. The animal since has been reunited with its owner.

In recent days, police had received numerous reports from residents about the ram as it roamed around the area. It was spotted at multiple locations in Mount Laurel.

Authorities didn’t say how the animal got loose. Rams have been described as “amazing escape artists” if they aren’t kept in secured enclosures. In the wild, during the fall mating season, males often “ram” into one another after charging head-on at speeds up to 40 mph, according to the National Park Service.

Photos shared on social media showed officers and township workers posing with the husky-looking ram, who was held still by his curled horns.

It was an odd coincidence in a week that saw a horse escape from a stable in Philadelphia and gallop down the shoulder of I-95. That unusual sight was captured in a viral video that shows the horse in stride with its hooves audibly pounding the roadway. Police used their cars to eventually corner the animal at the bottom of the Allegheny Avenue off-ramp. It was later determined the horse belonged to the Fletcher Street Urban Racing Club, which said the animal may have been intentionally released after closing hours.

There have been quite a few notable animal escapes in the region over the last decade. In 2015, a pair of zebras escaped from a circus in West Philly and were seen running through the streets and in the parking lot of a Planet Fitness before they were captured. On X, formerly Twitter, Philly police wrote, “They are already sporting old-timey prisoner getup ahead of trial and sentencing.”

The next year, a bull got loose from a truck while being transported to a slaughterhouse in West Kensington and briefly wandered onto the shoulder of I-95 near Rivers Casino in Fishtown. The bull eventually was euthanized by a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer near Old City.

When an old barn caught fire at Malvern’s Canter Hill Farms in 2017, an ostrich there escaped from its pen and was seen streaking down the side of Swedesford Road and at other locations. The flightless bird was eventually cornered at a baseball field about five miles away from the farm, whose owner was able to capture it in a trailer and bring it to safety. No people were injured in the fire.

Then in 2018, four peacocks escaped from the Philadelphia Zoo and traveled down the Schuylkill Expressway. At least one of them died and two others were confirmed to have returned to the zoo, which allows them to roam freely on its grounds. Later that year, in the middle of a snowstorm, a camel was spotted in Bucks County on the side of Route 309 in Sellersville. That incident was not an escape. The camel was being taken from a petting zoo to an event in Philadelphia, but never made it due to the storm.

About two years ago in Danville — roughly 135 miles northwest of Philly, in Montour County — a truck carrying 100 monkeys crashed with another vehicle on Route 54 near I-80. Four of them got loose, including three that set off a lengthy search by state police before they were captured and euthanized. The incident drew outrage from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which condemned the use of monkeys for lab experiments. Kenya Airlines, which had shipped the monkeys to the U.S. from the island nation of Mauritius, said it would stop transporting the animals.

Around the same time, a mysterious dog was found near a home in Fairfield Township, about 70 miles east of Pittsburgh. The dog’s mangey appearance left wildlife experts stumped over whether it was a coyote or some other breed — and it led to a lot of sleuthing online. A wildlife rescue that took the canine in discovered one morning that it had “demolished” its cage and “clambered up on a set of shelves” before chewing through ceiling-high window seals to break out of a hospital room, returning to the wild. The genetic samples that the rescue had sent out for analysis later determined that the canine was 100% coyote, which makes a lot of sense in hindsight.

Finally, last fall, in Gettysburg, the owners of a 200-pound pet pig named Kevin Bacon spent 17 days trying to capture him after he broke out of his pen. The search involved flying drones and concocting various lures until the pig was sedated with veterinary Benadryl that had been hidden in a cinnamon bun. News of the comical saga made its way to the famed “Footloose” actor and Philadelphia native, who wrote on social media, “Bring Kevin Bacon home!”

The ram that escaped in Mount Laurel is now home safe, having experienced a taste of freedom — and he evidently put police through quite the obstacle course before he was captured.

“He was jumping bushes and running all over the place,” Mount Laurel police officer Kyle Gardner told 6ABC. “We were able to, with a handful of officers and the division of public works, we were able to kind of chase him down, tire him out, and grab him by the horns, literally.”

Developing Action Capacity: A Path

from Scenes from the Atlanta Forest

“We are not special. Our skills are not overly technical or advanced, and our tools are simple to acquire. If you are reading this, you are capable of doing what we do.”

– APD Patrol Car Torched in Lakewood

While I agree with this sentiment, the reader is left with many questions about how to develop such a capacity for action, even if they are motivated. What exactly does it take to not get caught carrying out heavy actions like arson? This is especially important in the long run; not getting caught for a single arson is one thing, but being able to continue carrying out attacks in the face of heightened repressive attention is quite another.

For anyone who wants to carry out actions like this, but isn’t doing so yet, I’ve sketched an outline of the steps I think are necessary to sustain hard-hitting attacks on domination (limited to the topic of “operational” considerations, i.e., acquiring skills). This brief outline is intended to orient you and provide a “learning path” — each step has recommended reading that actually goes into the appropriate amount of depth on the subject. Use the Tails operating system to visit these links, which runs from a USB drive and leaves no trace on your computer. What I’ve written here is by no means definitive, and I hope to spark a dialogue about any operational aspects I may have neglected, as well as anything outside this scope that is important for sustaining and intensifying the capacity for action.

Deepening bonds

For anyone who doesn’t already have an action group, deciding who to act with is the first obstacle to overcome. I prefer to act in groups of two or three; it’s easier to maintain a high level of trust and agility with just a small handful of people. Most actions don’t require more than three participants, and when they do, action groups can collaborate. I prefer not to act alone because some aspects of actions are less risky when there are at least two people (for example, having a lookout).

In deciding who to act with, there is a tension between flexibility and consistency. Acting in several different configurations allows you to develop trust and experience with more people, which makes you more resilient in the face of arrests, burnout, or interpersonal splits. On the other hand, acting in a more consistent configuration can make it easier to develop a higher capacity for action in a shorter period of time.

Action groups only form because someone takes the initiative to propose them to a comrade with whom they want to deepen affinity and trust.

Affinity

Deciding who to approach in your network should be based on a sense of affinity between you, as this will determine what the action group decides to focus on. Affinity means sharing analysis, discovered through getting to know each other, that leads to prospects for action. It means knowing that you share goals and want to act in similar ways to pursue them.

The long-term exploration and deepening of affinity across a network, beyond a specific action group, opens up many more possibilities for the configuration of action groups to adapt over time, as well as for collaboration between them. I’ve chosen to use the term “action group” rather than “affinity group” to emphasize that affinity exists in many different constellations, each with its own potential.

Recommended reading:

Trust

Trust is contextual — you may trust someone to be a good friend, but that is different from trusting them with your freedom. Deciding who to approach in your network should be based on trust that they can live with the possible consequences of their actions without betraying their comrades, even if it means a long prison sentence. Trust is qualitative in a way that can’t be reduced to a simplistic formula. It’s based on an intimate knowledge that can only come from singular experiences within a relationship. However, there are established practices for deepening trust that are still worthwhile.

Recommended reading:

Laying the groundwork

Once there are two or three people who want to experiment with acting together, I recommend starting with actions that do not have particularly serious consequences if you get caught, such as breaking windows. This allows you to assess whether the configuration is a good fit, practice any skills that are new to anyone, establish operational approaches and a good “workflow” for the tasks involved, and develop an interpersonal dynamic that meets everyone’s needs, all in a relatively low-stakes environment. Progressively increasing the intensity of the action also gives you the opportunity to practice moving through fear so that decision-making, communication, and execution in high-stress situations can remain unimpeded.

Operational security

“Operational security” means the practices that allow you to get away with crimes. I recommend that your action group first discuss each of the highlighted resources at the No Trace Project before taking action, in an outdoor and device-free location. Many of these discussions are well suited for larger affinity constellations than your action group. This will take a considerable amount of time, but an in-depth discussion of these topics will provide a necessary foundation. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that everyone is already on the same page. These conversations will also be an opportunity to discuss how you will prepare for any repression that may result from your actions.

Action planning

With this foundation in place, you are now in a strong position to begin action planning. As you gain experience, organizing and executing actions will become much more natural. What was initially a lot to keep track of will eventually become second nature. This is another reason why it’s a good idea to start with actions that aren’t particularly risky.

Recommended reading:

  • How To Have A Fun Night To Forget: This will give you a quick overview of the steps involved in taking action.
  • Threat Library: This will give you a framework for planning the operational security measures for a specific action (for example, what surveillance detection measures you will take before going to a meeting).

Materializing your dreams

Before your action group engages in actions that will be more intensively investigated, it is especially important that you become competent in two operational security practices:

DNA minimization protocols

DNA minimization protocols are necessary to avoid leaving evidence at a crime scene. However, these precautions are not perfect, so the action should be conducted in such a way as to leave nothing behind that could have DNA traces on it. I recommend learning and practicing this skill long before you actually need to use it for high-risk actions.

Recommended reading:

Surveillance detection

If there is no evidence left at crime scenes, and you have established practices that prevent targeted digital surveillance from providing leads, investigators will be forced to use physical surveillance to try to incriminate you. The main goal of physical surveillance is to surveil the suspect during an action (as they did for Jeff Luers), and if that doesn’t work, to surveil the suspect while they are preparing for an action (buying materials, doing reconnaissance, etc.), all the while mapping the suspect’s network to find more suspects.

Detecting physical surveillance is a skill that takes a lot of practice, so I recommend that you start learning it long before you actually need to use it for high-risk actions. If you are ever the target of an investigation, this is the only thing that will prevent the police from following you to an action or preparation for an action.

Recommended reading:

Action techniques

Of course, skills related to action techniques are also important. For example, there are many ways to start a fire. Some are better than others in terms of reliability and effectiveness, but your approach should always be adapted to the specific scenario (target, exit plan, expected response times, etc.). Whatever techniques you end up using, it’s important to stay open to innovation rather than limiting yourself to following a guide.

Action technique is also related to operational security: for example, if you decide that the incendiary device(s) need a delay, it’s critical to be very confident that the delay won’t fail, as this would leave evidence for investigators to take samples from. Thoroughly test its reliability under the same conditions, and build in redundancy by using multiple delays on each device. Depending on the circumstances and terrain, you may even want to make a plan for noticing if any fires don’t start, such as choosing an exit route that provides a line of sight and pausing along it until you see the light of the flames.

Recommended reading:

Connecting constellations

The next step in developing capacity for action requires going beyond one’s own group. This is where things get really interesting: coordination between autonomous groups allows them to accomplish far more than they could on their own, while their autonomy wards off hierarchy and centralization. Of course, conspiring with more people involves risk and must be balanced with the need for compartmentalization — the need-to-know principle can help here.

Affinity is the strongest foundation for a common project among these groups — while affinity within an action group is based on interpersonal experience, affinity between action groups is based more on affinity with the project than with each other. The long-term search for affinity beyond your action group is what makes this foundation possible. Informal organization can then grow between action groups, which is a model that has been experimented with since the ’70s. Informal organization is born and shaped by the pursuit of specific goals, such as preventing the construction of Cop City through diffuse sabotage. “It doesn’t have a name to defend or assert, only a project to bring about”.

This outline touches on what I think are the minimal steps necessary to develop a capacity for hard-hitting action, limited to the topic of acquiring skills. Much more is needed — learning other skills beyond this baseline, experimenting with informal organization while navigating its challenges, developing analyses to understand the changing terrain, studying the vulnerabilities of domination, and focusing on all the other aspects that contribute to sustaining and intensifying action.

[READ]           [PRINT]

Found On No Trace Project

map of cop cities in the 50 states

from Scenes

Cop Cities, USA

Vandal smashes windows of vehicles at Central Berks police station

from Unravel

Jan. 31—A crime was committed almost literally in Central Berks Regional Police Department’s own backyard.

On Monday night, a vandal used a baseball bat to smash the windows of a patrol car and the personal vehicle of an officer in the parking lot behind the police station at 2147 Perkiomen Ave. in Mount Penn.

The vandal got away and was “difficult to identify” in security footage.

found on news media

“If the Cops Kill Me I Want You to Riot”

Submission

“If the cops kill me I want you to riot
Burn down their stations and set their cars alight
Know that I went out fighting and wish we all
Could just have peace and be free
We cannot have peace until this empire falls. Even then, peace takes work and freedom is a constant struggle. If the cops kill me I want you to riot, to kill as many of them as you can.” – Tort’s diary p. 121
Tortuguita lived and died fighting for the dispossessed, the wild, and the feral; against the world of empire, prisons, and police. It was a true warrior who made the forest its home, devoted their life to the struggle, and was willing to die a revolutionary death rather than be captured. We invite all those who knew Tort, and all who were impacted by its life from afar, to take the anniversary of their death as an opportunity to reflect on our own commitments and deepen our resolve, so that we might invigorate and intensify our conflictuality.
Rather than retreat into the bounds of comfort and safety, let us allow our memory of Tort to remind us of what it means to truly act in accordance with our values, and to challenge ourselves to follow through. We are rendered harmless only when we allow our fear of the enemy to eclipse our desires to defend the land and reduce this capitalist hellworld to ashes. Remember that the mechanisms of subjugation and control encroach all around us. Wherever you are, you need not venture far to find the veins of industry; go out and sever them.
We need not be concerned with optics and media portrayals. We have no interest in seeking validation, recognition, or understanding from the same media outlets — agents of the society we wish to destroy — that deadname and misgender Tortuguita and relentlessly whitewash its life as one of nonviolence and passivity. Additionally, to contort our actions to render them acceptable to the general public is to inevitably dull them to the point of irrelevance. To work only within the confines of the existent is to disarm ourselves completely. As anarchists, we are able to speak to each other in a language all our own. When we redecorate walls, shatter windows, and set fires, we speak to each other in ways that the media and the general public need not understand; we become beautiful. When we refuse legibility, when we refuse sympathy and demands, we refuse cooptation, we refuse recuperation, and we seek out life.

Avenge Tortuguita — Avenge the Forest

Graffiti

Submission




some random graffiti!

Submission




Zine version of Notes on September 26: Reflections on Looting, Black Liberation and Anarchism

Submission

https://haters.noblogs.org/files/2023/10/Notes-on-Sept-26.pdf

2 Septa Transit Police Vehicles Had Their Tires Slashed at All Out For Gaza Demo

Submission

The All Out For Gaza demo tonight was a genuine expression of love, solidarity, and rage for Palestinians experiencing genocide at the hands of the occupying forces of the state of Israel. While the spirit of this demo was more inspiring in some ways than most demos in Philly, there was a general vibe that the space was not open to more combative expressions of solidarity. This was due both to the crowd generally not taking part in that, but also the march route being relatively devoid of potential targets. However small though, we take victories where we can get them. During the march I punctured the tires of 2 Septa Transit Police vehicles that the marched passed by. Police are an occupying force in any form and are the enforcers of settler-colonialism. In expressing solidarity with those fighting for their freedom and lives in Palestine, functionaries of a colonial project in support of the state of Israel, such as the U.S, can and should be attacked. Destabilizing individual colonial powers can make the larger project of settler colonialism more and more vulnerable.

Love to and Solidarity with Palestinian people. Fuck the state of Israel and the entirety of the settler-colonial project.

Weelaunee Worldwide Mass Action Speaking Tour

from Instagram

Tuesday 10/10 at 7pm we’re hosting the Weelaunee Worldwide mass action speaking tour! Come learn about ongoing and upcoming actions to block Cop City, despite RICO charge repression!

Notes on September 26th: Reflections on looting, black liberation and anarchism

Submission

On Monday August 14th 2023, Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial shot and killed Eddie Irizarry as he sat in his car. Police initially lied saying that Eddie attacked the cop with a knife, but video footage showed that Eddie was shot in mere seconds while seated in his car with the window up. Following this Dial was suspended for 30 days pending termination. In early September Dial was charged with a number of crimes including murder but the presiding judge would eventually dismiss his charges. The cops who attended the court date in uniform cheered and celebrated when the charges were dropped. On September 26th, that same day Eddie’s family and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (alongside Black leftist groups like Black Alliance for Peace and the W.E.B. DuBois Movement School) organized a peaceful march through Center City protesting the decision. That demonstration dispersed after a couple hours but was followed by looting, initially in Center City before spreading to West, North, and Northeast Philly as the night went on.

The Black liberation movement is alive! Those who say it’s dead are either racist or not in the street and these revolts are the proof. Although the number of people in the streets was smaller than in 2020, there was widespread revolt across Philadelphia. Police killed Eddie Irizarry, a non-Black Puerto Rican, and Black people responded with revolt. Similarly in 2020 in Kenosha, WI when Kyle Rittenhouse killed two white people in the midst of a riot against police and later had his charges dropped, Black people rioted in the Bay Area. These are both examples of a Black consciousness that recognizes anti-Black systems regardless of if they are targeting Black people in a specific instance.

Here in Philly looters and rioters were well prepared. People were overwhelmingly masked, wearing black clothes, and many were brandishing tools. The looting was organized spontaneously over social media the same day as it took place. People used police scanners to monitor police and prepare for their responses. Numerous businesses, car lots, and ATMs were targeted throughout the city, spreading the PPD thin. Many participants used cars to move between businesses, as getaways, and to generally stay mobile.

It is a far too common belief among radicals that the state is omniscient. This night of rebellion proves otherwise, that opportunity is abundant for insurrectionary activity! As Black radicals (and generally for “political” people) we need to understand it’s possible to get away with things if we plan on challenging the state. Many ordinary people already know this and behaved accordingly.

The riots on Tuesday night into Wednesday are an image from the future. Sprawling and scattered rebellions are becoming the norm. Better prepared participants spread across the city, overwhelming police forces that feel they cannot defend everything at once. What moves do we want to make in this new context?

After the run on the Apple store, as people saw that their looted iPhones and iPads were being tracked and bricked by security systems, they smashed them immediately. Poured orange juice on them. Dropped them into the sewers. A beautiful display of how commodities are bullshit. Destroying anti-Blackness necessarily involves attacking property and the relations needed to maintain it, whether commodities or capital. Black consciousness cannot be separated from class consciousness.

It is important to note that this revolt and the George Floyd Uprising (including the Walter Wallace rebellion nestled within it) hold key differences. This recent riot was overwhelmingly Black with minor Latine participation in the Northeast, as opposed to the multiracial character of 2020. This lines up with the reality of Black people being the most advanced in struggle against the so-called United States. September’s revolt also saw a more chill vibe with little focus on fighting police, as looters helped each other attack property and evade capture. They seemed to have a more collaborative and joyous attitude compared to the Walter Wallace rebellion of October 2020, which saw more skepticism and lateral violence amongst participants. Another interesting difference from those events was that September 2023 saw Black people of various ideologies and walks of life moving together in insurrection. As a result the revolt rejected a conventional political character while still maintaining an inherent black consciousness (best exemplified by the occasional Black Trump supporter joining in on the smash-and-grab).

The second day, looting continued in a smaller capacity although the larger crowds that gathered were noticeably absent. Instead, people mostly used their cars to do smash and grabs. The police were also more prepared and mobilized on the second day. Understandly, this probably meant a lot more people stayed home because the police presence was far more intense on the street.

The Left was either too afraid of or uninterested in participating in the Black revolt, sidestepped and left behind by young people who organized themselves via social media. These socialist groups constantly talk about the need for organziation. But young Black people on the 26th were ready to go. They didn’t need any self appointed community organizers then and they don’t now. The looting on September 26th is just a form of self organization that the Left refuses to take seriously. At best we saw boilerplate analyses that looting pales in comparison to corporate wage theft. The WEB DuBois School of Abolition went so far as to make a statement saying “it isn’t our task to either celebrate or condemn the actions” of the looters. The inability (and cowardice) of leftist groups to even consider publicly celebrating attacks on capital by young Black people speaks to a real division between what Black people are doing versus what the Left is doing. The issue of how to include more activist and leftist organizations is as irrelevant as ever, the question now is how do we continue to sidestep the left and add to the growth of ever more terrible revolts?

Anarchists made an effort to add to the situation. Anarchists were not only present during the riots (albeit to a limited degree), some also carried out attacks. Although anarchists were largely late to the game in terms of intentionally participating, a good amount of anarchists showed up. Segregation and being in different social networks may have played a part in why our response as anarchists was delayed. A proposal of dispersed attacks was made and followed through on. That said, an opportunity to raise morale was missed by prioritizing atomized attack over group action. The anarchist space in Philadelphia is growing right now, and tempering cautious attitudes with encouragement and support can further encourage that growth. Black clothes are cool again, anarchists need not worry about alienating others with monochrome outfits, though some sportswear brands (Nike, Adidas, and Champion were common) might go a long way.

This moment felt like an opening salvo of mass revolts to come. Let’s stay ready for next time.

– Some black anarchists in Philly

Clarkvilled Attacked During Eddie Irizarry Riots

Submission

On Tuesday, September 26, during the widespread looting, a small group attacked Clarkville. It’s another business that’s gentrifying West Philly and exploits its workers. After hearing about the looting we decided it was an easy way to contribute to the chaos. We read a cool zine called Toward Insurrection, in that zine they talk about anarchists interfacing with the riot. One way to do that is targeting our enemies just outside of where the riots are happening to overextend the police. Hopefully actions like these will grow the general disorder. We encourage other like-minded individuals to take action similar to this one next time.

 

Death to small businesses

Love to the looters

 

-some anarchists

Dozens arrested as groups break into stores, vandalize businesses across Philadelphia, police say

from Mainstream Media

The unrest stretched across the city, including Center City, the Northeast, and West Philadelphia.

Damage from vandalism litters the sidewalk at S. 52nd and Walnut Street on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The unrest stretched across the city, including Center City, the Northeast, and West Philadelphia, with business corridors along Aramingo Avenue and Walnut Street targeted through the night.

Large groups of young people broke into numerous stores across Philadelphia Tuesday night, stealing merchandise and vandalizing property, Acting Police Commissioner John Stanford said.

By midnight, police had arrested more than 20 people, a few of them juveniles, Stanford said, and at least two guns were recovered. The unrest stretched across the city, including Center City, the Northeast, and West Philadelphia, with business corridors along Aramingo Avenue and Walnut Street targeted through the night.

On Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office said at least 30 people, including three juveniles, were being charged so far, most with burglary and theft. One person has been charged with illegal gun possession, she said. Fine Wine & Good Spirits said all of its stores would close until further notice after 18 locations were burglarized overnight.

Initial reports of break-ins near Rittenhouse Square began just after 8 p.m., shortly after protesters had dispersed from a peaceful gathering at City Hall, where marchers called for justice for Eddie Irizarry, who was shot and killed by a Philadelphia Police officer last month. Earlier Tuesday, a judge dismissed all charges against the officer who killed him, setting off a wave of outrage in the community.

Stanford was quick to make clear that Irizarry’s supporters had nothing to do with Tuesday night’s unrest. He called the young people who looted “criminal opportunists” who were not affiliated with the earlier gathering.

“This had nothing to do with the protests,” Stanford said. “What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists take advantage of a situation and try to destroy our city.”

“It’s disgusting,” he said. “Our city can’t afford this nonsense.”

Irizarry’s family echoed calls for peace Wednesday morning. Irizarry’s aunt, Zoraida Garcia, said vandalism and looting “is not going to bring justice to my family or bring my nephew back.” Her family, she said, “does not condone this type of behavior.”

Garcia asked those who were angry with Judge Wendy Pew’s decision to dismiss the charges against the officer who shot and killed her nephew to “come to the court instead of tearing down our city.” Bring posters and stand in front of the courthouse, she said, “and let’s do this the right way. Fight together for justice.”

The young people involved, Stanford said, appeared to have organized their efforts on social media, and once one group started, others followed suit. He said police believe there was a caravan of cars moving between locations across the city and breaking into stores and pharmacies. Some of the people involved in that group were arrested, he said.

No injuries were reported, Stanford said.

Much of the night was chronicled on social media.

Around 8:15 p.m., videos showed groups of young people gather around the Apple Store near 16th and Walnut Streets and pry the front doors from the security guards’ hands. Shortly after, as the group ran down Walnut Street, the devices were locked and disabled by security technology and a loud alarm started sounding. Some people smashed the devices on the ground and police recovered a “pile of iPads” abandoned nearby.

The groups also broke into Foot Locker and Lululemon, and videos showed numerous teens fleeing the store with clothing. Officers attempted to apprehend some of them, and tackled a few to the ground.

Police had cleared and secured the Rittenhouse area by 9:10 p.m., and locked down a four-block stretch.

JD Sports in the Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia following looting and vandalism throughout the city.

Police later reported stores being vandalized along Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond and other locations in North Philadelphia.

One woman livestreamed dozens of people breaking into a Fine Wine & Good Spirits store. Her video stream ended when, as she drove away, police appeared to pull her car over.

Just before midnight Tuesday, Stanford said the unrest had been contained “for the most part.”

Officers, he said, were still responding to some emergency calls, and have been instructed to arrest all those involved at the scenes.

“We will continue to make arrests until we have all the individuals … that have been responsible for what we see tonight in custody.”

Tumar Alexander, the city’s managing director, called the unrest “disrespectful to the Irizarry family,” who have repeatedly called for peace amid their cries for justice.

The Lululemon store on Walnut Street following looting and vandalism throughout the city.

The business corridors affected Tuesday night were similar to those targeted in the summer of 2020, after tensions between police and communities rose after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Philadelphia was one of dozens of cities across the country to experience mass unrest; some stores through Center City were burned down, and parts of West and North Philadelphia were heavily looted and vandalized.

Community outrage rose anew just a few months later, in October 2020, when Philadelphia police shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., who was wielding a knife while experiencing what his family said was a mental health crisis. Protests again broke out across West Philadelphia, and some businesses were vandalized.

Skill Shares and Block Cop City Speaking Tour

Submission

Not sure if you all heard about this already but figured I’d pass it along. They seem open to people tabling fyi