Country Club Plaza closed for 5th day after another night of protests in Kansas City
The Country Club Plaza remains closed Wednesday, the fifth day in a row the popular shopping center is shuttered amid days of protests in Kansas city against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The Plaza initially closed at 4 p.m. Saturday ahead of a night of protests at the nearby Mill Creek Park. While Plaza businesses planned to reopen Monday, some demonstrations took a violent turn, leading to some property damage.
As of Tuesday evening, nearly 200 people have been arrested in the Kansas City protests. Police have deployed tear gas and pepper spray at the demonstrations, though Tuesday evening’s protest remained mostly peaceful and only pepper spray was used.
Damage from the weekend protests was visible Sunday, with broken windows and profanity-laced graffiti on plywood protecting windows as well as brick and stone. Dismembered mannequins sat behind a smashed window at the Ricca Sposa bridal shop Sunday morning.
Kansas City police captain Jonas Baughman did not have an exact count early Sunday of the number of Plaza businesses vandalized, but said more were undamaged than damaged.
At that time, the Plaza had previously announced it would be closed over the weekend, from 4 p.m. Saturday until 11 a.m. Monday, because of the protests.
Business owners in the area on Monday said it was “heartbreaking.” They said they understand the rage fueled by Floyd’s death, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck, but they wished their businesses already reeling from COVID-19 weren’t vandalized too.
The Kansas City Police Department promoted a “Unity March” scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The march, organized in conjunction with The Justice Center is set to take place in the front lawn of the Nelson Atkins Museum, less than half a mile from the Plaza.
