Yet Bryan refuses to blame the protesters. “I built this company from the ground up … so when anything goes wrong it’s immediately my money,” he said. After police approached him, Bryan turned over surveillance footage taken outside his restaurant to aid in their investigation of the shootings.Īlready reeling from the slowdown in business due to the pandemic, Bryan’s losses have mounted over the last week. It was right outside his restaurant where two police officers were shot the night Cameron announced his office would not pursue homicide charges against the officers who killed Taylor. Richard “Red” Bryan is the owner of the Alley Way Cafe Restaurant, a dine-in and catering business in the Shelby Park neighborhood near downtown. I’m sure in every city where there are riots, between the people and the business owners who believe that destruction of property is the worst thing ever, and those on the other side of the line that believe people are more important than property.” ‘The police officers are not bad people’ … So that definitely drew a hard line in the sand. To her, damaged property is nothing compared with a life lost. Yet Griffin said she understands the community’s anger. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Restaurant workers outside the Limbo show support as protesters march in downtown Louisville on Sept. There were serious riots, and they occurred mainly downtown, mainly on the corner where my businesses are located. And, in my opinion, that was the only night that we have ever experienced riots. “Thursday night protests went into Friday night riots. “The protests ramped up right away,” Griffin said. So it was little surprise that Cameron’s decision resulted in more protests in Louisville. Griffin said that when the news broke about George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis in May, Taylor’s case was put on the national radar. “There’s few people traveling here and they’re for business purposes, but we’re talking reduced so dramatically.” “Everything changed when COVID hit for everybody, especially here downtown,” Griffin told Yahoo News. Olivia Rose Griffin, owner of Riot Cafe and the Limbo, a tiki bar in downtown Louisville, likened the last several months to slow-motion whiplash. Fearful for their safety, many locals say they no longer want to come downtown, and as a result, business owners have found themselves in the unenviable position of taking sides on the protests that threaten their livelihoods. Since then, Louisville residents and other supporters of Taylor have continued daily marches through the streets, decrying the police brutality and racial injustice that they say Taylor’s death, and the decision not to charge the Louisville Metro Police officers involved in her killing, epitomizes.Ĭaught up in the turmoil are the proprietors of the mom-and-pop shops and small businesses downtown that have taken a dramatic hit from both COVID-19 and the protests. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)īy early that Friday morning, the protests had boiled over into full-blown rioting, leaving windows smashed in and property damaged in the downtown section of the city. Protesters on Wednesday stand on a truck that is being used as a roadblock near Jefferson Square Park in Louisville, Ky. The small number of businesses that remained open during the coronavirus pandemic feel even more rarefied since protests erupted on Sept. There are only a handful of people on the streets and even fewer cars. Normally bustling with people and commerce, the cordoned-off business district - an area stretching five blocks north to south and six east to west - is now the site of very little activity. The business district is barricaded off, and checkpoints have been set up to make sure those entering have a stated purpose for being there other than to protest.įor many residents of the community, the scene feels like something from an apocalyptic film, but it’s become the reality in Louisville following unrest that accompanied the decision last week by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron not to charge three police officers with homicide in the death of Breonna Taylor. Street telephone kiosks are tightly wrapped in cellophane so no phone calls can be made. In downtown Louisville, Ky., the ground floors of apartment complexes and storefronts are boarded up with plywood.
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