‘We Weren’t Goin’ to Sit Back and Let It Happen’: Italian Bakery Owners Welcome Cleveland Looters with an Impressive Arsenal
What began as a peaceful protest in Cleveland Saturday turned violent as the day progressed, prompting Mayor Frank Jackson to issue an 8 p.m. curfew and to request National Guard reinforcements to protect the city from rioters. Corbo’s, a tiny family-owned bakery in the city’s historic Playhouse Square district, took matters into their own hands, brandishing their firearms when rioters came calling.In a video captured by Rob Rash, rioters and looters can be seen approaching Corbo’s Bakery, taunting the owners and threatening them with iron rods and a large pylon with a heavy metal base. Three men stood in the doorway of the bakery, defending their property and exercising their Second Amendment rights. A minute later the rioters were gone, having moved on to the business next door, where they shattered a massive storefront window
Rioters later came back and shattered the bakery’s front windows. “We r here all night now because they broke r big windows,” the bakery wrote on Facebook. “Thankful my sons n husband didn’t get hurt! We r just protecting r business..we want no trouble but unfortunately they came at us w bats n weapons. God bless u guys too!” It doesn’t appear the rioters entered the bakery and there was no sign of looting at the Playhouse Square location.
Rioters destroyed and looted storefronts along a one-mile stretch of Euclid Avenue, one of Cleveland’s busiest thoroughfares.
