Firefighters rush to contain blaze at Cedar-Riverside pawnshop after third night of protests, violence

Minneapolis firefighters doused a large fire that torched a pawnshop early Friday morning just south of the Cedar-Riverside intersection.

The fire engulfed a Max-It Pawn Shop on Cedar Avenue. It may also have destroyed adjoining businesses.

The smoke billowed over Whiskey Junction, a bar, and the Cabooze, a music venue, which were untouched as of 7 a.m.

Passersby stopped their vehicles by the side of the road to film the flames.

Broken store windows and other vandalism was seen across Minneapolis Friday morning. A Family Dollar on Nicollet Avenue and 35th Street was looted; a smoke shop was set ablaze further north on Lake Street.

Businesses and restaurants on the popular Eat Street section of Nicollet were mostly untouched, with owners boarding up windows leading up to Thursday night.

Some businesses along Franklin Avenue were also damaged Thursday night. Looters smashed the door into Zipps Liquors, stealing bottles and breaking into the registers.

"Where is our authority? Where is the police?" owner Jennifer Schoenzeit asked.

A group of people sat on the curb outside of the liquor store. One of them, Chad Smash, gripped a baseball bat, with another bat sticking out of his backpack. He said he had patrolled up and down Franklin Thursday night, and that he hadn't slept in two days.

"I think that everybody needs to step up neighborhood-wise and protect their own," he said, before adding: "This mayor has got to go."

Near the remains of the Third Precinct, onlookers stared at a line of State Patrol troopers blocking Lake Street on 29th Avenue. Two of them were Charles Stotts and Kacey White, whose restaurant, the Town Talk Diner, was destroyed in the protests Wednesday night.

White asked one of the officers to take a photo of the diner this morning. It had burned down and collapsed.

Miguel Otárola • 612-673-4753