MIAMI _ As the sun rose over Miami on Sunday morning, South Florida got its first glimpse of the damage caused during overnight demonstrations that turned violent after a peaceful start to protest the death of George Floyd _ part of a wave of protests that spread across the country following the death of the unarmed black man while in police custody in Minneapolis last week.
Outside Miami police headquarters, where a phalanx of police had fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters hurling rocks and bottles the night before, about a dozen police officers with shields and helmets stood guard by the entrance Sunday morning about one hour after a mandatory curfew was lifted.
About a block away from them was the burned out shell of a squad car that had been set on fire. A used can of Spede-Heat CS tear gas stood upright on a Northwest Fourth Street sidewalk under Interstate 95.
Police presence was also high at Bayside Marketplace, which remained closed after some demonstrators smashed windows and burglarized multiple stores that had recently reopened after more than a month-long closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And at Miami Dade College's downtown campus, protesters left behind a scene of broken windows, ransacked vending machines and graffiti on walls. But most of the Wolfson Campus looked untouched.
Saturday night's unrest overlapped with a fireworks display along downtown Miami's waterfront intended to honor first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic _ adding to the confusion and tension in a community struggling to emerge from a months-long shutdown.
Police arrested 57 people overnight, including some protesters who came to Miami from outside Florida. Most face charges of violating Miami-Dade's 10 p.m. curfew, said Juan Diasgranados, public affairs manager for Miami-Dade Corrections.
"A small portion of those folks came from out-of-state," Diasgranados said.
No deaths have been reported. Kiara Delva, a spokeswoman for Miami police, said in an email that police officers were injured as the protest turned from peaceful to hostile.
"Subsequently, officers were forced to take the necessary action to disperse the crowd," she said.
A total of 17 squad cars were damaged in Saturday night's protests. "Damages ranged from punctured tires to burning of vehicles," she said.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Police Chief Jorge Colina are scheduled to hold a press conference in front of police headquarters on Sunday afternoon to provide an assessment of Saturday night's damage.
The scattered vandalism found throughout downtown Miami on Sunday morning led to inconveniences for some and significant challenges for others.
But overall, the damage appeared to be less than feared after a tense and chaotic Saturday night that saw police in tactical gear firing tear gas at crowds as police cars on fire billowed flames and smoke. Protesters had also marched onto Interstate 95 and blocked traffic, creating hours of gridlock.
At Bayside Marketplace, shards of glass crunched underfoot outside the Lacoste store, one of several vandalized on Saturday.
Miami police officers stood outside the pocket of stores with smashed glass doors and windows, along with emptied display cases inside.
But the destruction wasn't widespread, with multiple stores appearing unscathed during a brief walk through of one portion of the open-air mall.
Outside, Moses Hernandez, 20, and his friends were hurrying toward the popular shopping destination shortly after 7 a.m., in an extended hunt for a restroom in the city.
"There's nothing open," said Hernandez, a retail worker.
He said they arrived overnight for the visit, a day before beaches are set to reopen after weeks of closures from emergency measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
"I just want to find a place to sit and relax," he said.
Blocks away, about a dozen Miami police officers in shields and helmets stood guard outside the city's downtown police headquarters. The street before them was mostly empty, except for news crews and passing vehicles.
Miami-Dade on Saturday suspended all transit service for the weekend in response to the unrest. Workers stranded trying to get home on Saturday were trying to find ways to get to work on Sunday morning.
"I've got to walk six miles. The working people need the bus," said construction worker Aramis Galsardo, 37, after waiting in vain for his regular bus outside Bayside.
Galsardo eventually asked police if they knew where the bus was, and then learned it wasn't coming. He crossed Biscayne Boulevard, on his way to an extremely late arrival to a construction site three miles away on the Miami River.
"It's not my fault," he said.
Little Havana resident Denis Guerrero said he understood the wave of anger over Floyd's death. But he was dismayed at one of the pieces of fallout from Saturday: no MetroBus service.
"People take buses to go to work to support your family," said Guerrero, who was waiting at the corner of Northwest Seventh Street and 22nd Avenue for the No. 7 bus to take him to his job at Dolphin Mall.
On Miami's Northeast First Avenue, a stretch of storefronts, including two jewelry stores, greeted the day with crumpled glass on front doors that cracked but did not fail.
The Rolex watches remained secure behind huge dents on the glass window at the Mitch the Jeweler store, damage inches away from a flyer telling customers: "You must wear a mask to enter."
The Metro by T-Mobile store a block away on Flagler Street couldn't hold off intruders. The display window lay in ribbons on the ground, a neon "Open" sign still hanging by a wire. Display cases inside were cleared of phones.
Even so, the damage was isolated amid a shopping district largely untouched by the unrest.
Clean-up began in the morning, with city crews and private cleaners removing debris and graffiti.
At the Vizcayne apartment building off Northeast Second Street, Angel Pena scrubbed thinner onto the wall tagged with the letters "BLM," initials of the Black Lives Matter movement.
"It's difficult," he said. "This is good paint."
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who ordered a local state of emergency and a curfew late Saturday night, said the curfew would resume from 8 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday.
After Saturday night's emergency curfew went into effect at 10 p.m., police fanned out across downtown where protesters remained on the streets and others continued to vandalize and burglarize stores.
Police stood shoulder to shoulder and marched through the streets firing canisters of tear gas that could be felt for blocks. By 11:30 p.m., police had arrested more than a dozen people and mostly cleared the streets in downtown Miami.
The demonstrations in Miami unfolded as similar protests erupted in cities across the country to protest the death of Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer held his knee on his neck for more than 8 minutes on May 25 in Minneapolis. Video of the encounter _ which showed Floyd gasping and saying he could not breathe _ went viral and has sparked national outrage about police tactics.
However, Miami's protests did not appear to cause as much destruction or lead to as many arrests as demonstrations elsewhere, including Los Angeles and Atlanta but most notably in Minneapolis, where rioters looted stores, attacked officers and torched a police station.
Passionate crowds also gathered in other cities across Florida on Saturday.
In Tallahassee, the state's capital, protesters chanting "no justice, no peace" marched to the city's police department while a red truck with a Georgia tag plowed through the crowd. In Tampa, protesters berated police officers _ and the media _ but the gathering was peaceful.
A protest in Coral Gables, one of the county's more affluent towns, drew a much smaller crowd, about 100 people. The protesters had coordinated with the city's police department _ which drew derision from some social-media activists.
Passing cars honked support. People cried "Hands up! Don't Shoot!" and "Black Lives Matter" at the corner of Coral Way and LeJeune Road.
