The good news: The protest, the planned event, went off without a hitch.
I've been keeping an eye on the news for a significant part of the afternoon and into the evening, because I live just a few blocks from one of the protests. I won't tell you which city.
The protest itself was completely peaceful, save maybe an occasional graffiti artist (one was supportive, one was outed as an agitator).
But then, about 90 minutes after curfew was declared in the area, somebody got stupid and started setting off fireworks with the police.
That, obviously, doesn't set well, and the riot began, to what extent it did.
A CVS I frequent had about 30-40 people try to loot it at some point in the proceedings. I'll check in tomorrow to see how bad the damage is...
The real scary part was (and still may remain -- not clear if the coast is clear yet or not) that the last of the rioters as the group was dispersing got within 1-2 blocks of my location. One person found a large construction crane in the area and scaled it!
Then my anonymous friend (who was over for support) noted that, before the protesters started west down Mission Inn, one of them (apparently) was in a car, screaming "LAW AND ORDER! LAW AND ORDER!!" at the top of his lungs.
Let's be clear on something: The people the military have to be sic'ed on are agitprops and opportunists looking to be stupid, violent, lootie, what have you.
Here's one of my favorite sports YouTubers, who said it better than I could:
Still hearing some fireworks (including some right in the intersection right on top of us seconds before I post this...) in the neighborhood -- more than usual. And it could be a bit of a night yet. Will let you know if anything else (especially bad) happens, but, for now, I am safe.
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