On any other Saturday, Santee Alley in downtown Los Angeles's Fashion District would be packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people buying cut-rate electronics and quinceañera dresses and $100 three-piece suits and fake Labubu dolls. The goods are cheap, pushcart vendors sell bottled water to keep shoppers cool, and the open-air corridor stays open 365 days a year.
But June 14 was not any other Saturday. It was the day of the No Kings anti-Trump protests a mile away in downtown L.A. By 4 p.m., some businesses on nearby Broadway had boarded up their stores, not wanting a repeat of the vandalism that happened the previous Saturday night, after the protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids broke up and several hundred people went on a rampage.
Shopkeepers on Santee Alley were worried about the opposite of looters.
