American cities ordered to give over $68 million to Antifa, BLM agitators after 2020 riots caused $2 BILLION in damage

Major cities across the country saw over $2 billion in damages in the wake of 2020’s Antifa and BLM George Floyd riots. Property was damaged, officers attacked, and at least 30 people lost their lives. In the years since, these same cities have paid out millions of dollars to the same people that participated in this unrest.

In September of 2020, it was revealed that over $2 billion in property damage claims arising from the riots were made over that summer, marking the costliest riots in US history. The Foundation for Economic Education suggested that this total was likely higher, as the $2 billion figure looked only at insured businesses, and 75 percent of businesses are under insured. Around 40 percent of small businesses have no insurance.

Most recently, the Denver City Council approved a settlement of $4.7 million to over 300 people who attended Black Lives Matter riots in the summer of 2020 and were arrested by Denver police. The settlement will go to the activists who said that their First Amendment rights were violated by Denver officers, according to CBS News.

Late last month, a California jury awarded $3.75 million to a man who was by Los Angeles officers with hard foam bullets, which are non-lethal weapons, on the night of May 29, 2020 as riots overtook downtown after George Floyd's May 25 death in Minneapolis. Another man was awarded $375,000 for the same reason in March. That same man was awarded an additional $860,000 by the Los Angeles City Council.

In New York City, officials have agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought forth by around 1,300 people that were arrested by police in the city during the riots. Another class action was settled by the city earlier this year, with an agreement to pay around $45,500 each for at least 200 protestors for "kettling" a group of activists.

The city also faces more than 600 individual cases, with roughly half resulting in settlements and resolutions, costing the city around $12 million as of July.

In Minneapolis, the city that sparked the summer of violence, the city council approved a $27 million settlement for the family of George Floyd.

The city reached a $600,000 settlement in 2022 with 12 activists that were injured during the riots.

In Portland, city officials reached a $250,000 settlement in 2022 over the police’s use of tear gas and other crowd control devices to gain control of the city that saw more than 100 consecutive nights of rioting over the summer of 2020. The city also agreed to pay $100,000 to a man who claimed to be wrongfully arrested after refusing to give up his protest sign.

In March, Philadelphia announced that it had reached a $9.25 million settlement with 343 activists who had been arrested during the riots in the city.

These cases in major cities alone amount to over $68 million. Between May 26 and June 8 of 2020, between $1 and 2 billion in damages were caused in 20 states.

Some cities have settled with businesses over these riots, including Seattle, which paid out $3.65 million in a lawsuit brought forth by businesses that were disrupted in connection to the violent Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, which closed down an eight-block section of the city.

In 2021, it was revealed that more than 1,500 businesses in Minneapolis and St. Paul were damaged or destroyed during the riots, and were projected to take years to rebuild. $500 million in damages came from the Twin Cities alone.