Minneapolis Business Owners Again Brace for Riots as Chauvin Trial Comes to a Close

Vandals forced their way into David Fhima’s Minneapolis restaurant last summer as riots erupted across the Twin Cities in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody.

They ransacked his business, located in a historic art deco building. They slashed his booths with knives; fired weapons, leaving bullet holes in the walls; tore out the point-of-sale systems; stole expensive bottles of wine and liquor, and smashed even more on the floor, including an $18,000 bottle of Louis XIII cognac.

In all, the vandals did almost a half million dollars of damage to Fhima’s restaurant. His insurance covered some of that, but not all. He was forced to close for almost two months.

When he saw the wreckage, Fhima was distraught. Not because of the financial hit, though that was devastating, but because of the message the vandalism and looting sent.

“This is the community that we live in,” he said. “This is the community that we do a lot of good in, that we volunteer. This shouldn’t be the community that hurts us.”

As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin comes to a close — the prosecution and defense made closing arguments on Monday over his role in Floyd’s death — the owners of downtown Minneapolis businesses, like Fhima, are bracing for the possibility of yet more unrest yet when the jury returns its verdict.

They worry that a not-guilty verdict or a manslaughter conviction could set off another round of riots. And even if Chauvin is convicted of murder, they worry the celebration could turn destructive. The shooting death of Daunte Wright, 20, on April 11 by a police officer in nearby Brooklyn Center, and the subsequent unrest in that city, has only upped the tension in Minneapolis. The downtown streets are teeming with National Guard troops and law-enforcement officers from Minneapolis and surrounding communities. City leaders have urged business owners to double-check their insurance policies to make sure they’re covered for riots.

Many weary downtown business owners have boarded their windows to protect against looters. Fhima has not. He doesn’t like the message it sends, and worries about the impact.

“We are next door to the Marriot hotel. The whole hotel is boarded up,” Fhima said. “What COVID did not destroy financially and economically in our city, this could potentially do it.”

Fhima, who was living in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots there, has chosen to have faith in the police and city leaders to protect his business, and he’s chosen to have faith in the community and in protesters to exercise their First Amendment rights to protest peacefully.

“To be a restauranteur, to be a chef, is to be eternally optimistic,” he said.

Fhima and his team do a lot of volunteer work in the community; he runs a kitchen to feed the poor, and helps to organize charity events across the Twin Cities.

“If you think by destroying my restaurant, you’re hurting me and my family, you’ve got another thing coming,” he said. “You’re hurting me, my family, you’re hurting my employees. You’re hurting all the work we do in the community, feeding the community. You’re hurting people who need us for their lunches that we make for free. There is a rippling effect that is so big.”

Steve Cramer, president and CEO of the mpls downtown council, an organization for downtown businesses, described the mood in the city as “very tense.” The anxiety was just ramped up after Wright’s death. He said he noticed a significant number of businesses board up their windows after the rioting and looting in Brooklyn Center.

“Those images on TV just brought back a lot of really difficult memories,” Cramer said.

Cramer had urged businesses not to board up, and to have faith in authorities and their plan to protect the city, the so-called Operation Safety Net. But he said he’s not second guessing the decisions of any business owners. He’s expecting more unrest in the days to come.

While all communities have been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, and many downtowns have dealt with some level of civil unrest, Minneapolis’s situation is unique, he said.

“No one has dealt with this international spotlight of a trial, and then on top of that this situation in Brooklyn Center,” he said. “My go-to move when I get home from work is to go to my basement and turn on one of the cable stations. Minneapolis is top of the hour news the first half hour of every damned show. So that’s been hard.”

Jas Singh, who owns a small liquor store on the outskirts of downtown, has had his business looted twice already in the last year, causing $200,000 in damages and stolen goods. He’s still fighting with his insurance company to recoup some of his losses. Singh boarded his business last summer, and has kept the boards up since then. He said criminals are no longer scared of the police. He said he now gets accused of racism if he asks customers for ID or to wear a mask.

“It’s pretty scary down here,” Singh said.

Singh said he doesn’t think there is a possible outcome at the trial that will result in everyone going home happy and peacefully. “A lot of people are just looking for a reason to do something, you know,” he said.

Tim Mahoney, the owner of the Loon Café in downtown Minneapolis, said the situation in downtown Minneapolis is “sad, really.” Businesses are boarded, the streets are quiet. The revelrous crowds that used to gather at night, on the weekends, and after sporting events are mostly gone. Street hustlers, drug addicts, and homeless people remain.

“Financially as a businessperson, this is getting extremely old and extremely difficult to navigate,” Mahoney said. “I think right now people are very tense, people are very nervous.”

Mahoney expects some more violence downtown, but he’s also worried about businesses and suburban neighborhoods that don’t have massive police and National Guard protection.

Despite his concerns, Mahoney is not boarding up his restaurant. “I have faith in our community,” he said, though he acknowledged that may be naïve.

He said the city and the state mishandled the unrest after Floyd’s death last summer, but he believes — at least he hopes — that city and police leaders learned from it.

“And I think the average citizen of Minneapolis and the surrounding communities are appalled about all of it, everything,” Mahoney said.

He hopes the massive police and National Guard presence downtown will keep things from getting out of hand, and if things do start getting out of control, authorities will subdue it.

“But,” he said, “if they step back like they did in the first time, if they step by and say we’re not going to do anything here, we’re going to . . . let you take the fort, then we’re going to be in for a world of hurt in downtown Minneapolis.”

“If they have that same approach, they’re going to burn the city down until there’s nothing left to burn.”