Santa Monica Protests Go from Peaceful to Chaotic, Looting Underway

What started out as a peaceful protest in Santa Monica has descended into complete and utter chaos as well as rampant looting — a progression we’ve seen day in and day out.

People began to gather in SM early Sunday afternoon, with many marching while holding signs and carrying out chants — basically, going about their demonstration with relative calm. They’d taken up the streets, but were also getting supportive honks from drivers.

Folks even took a knee in silence at one point for nearly 3 minutes, asking cops that eventually arrived to join them and do the same. No violence through the first hour, it seems.

Unfortunately, as the day went on … things took a turn for the worst as people began to face off with officers, and eventually broke out into full-on looting and rioting.

Tons of stores — some of which are in Santa Monica Place — started getting raided and ransacked within just a couple hours … places like the Vans store, the Nike store, CVS, Shoe Palace, Louis Vuitton, Joe’s Jeans, Bloomingdales and even an optometrist clinic!!!

One store, REI, was being guarded by a peaceful protester who attempted to stand in the way of the entrance door — and was physically accosted by people trying to break in. FOX 11 captured some of the craziness she had to endure to protect the camping door retailer.

People literally tried physically removing her from her spot, yanking her away and even throwing fireworks at her to shoo her off. The lady didn’t budge though … she kept coming back.