Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship Manhattan store looked to avoid the same fate as Macy's famed Herald Square location, erecting razor wire around the building Tuesday hopefully to prevent looting associated with the riots that have followed the death of a man in police custody in Minneapolis, the New York Post reported.
The high-end retailer also has attached chain-link fencing to the previously installed plywood covering the stores famed display windows, hired private security with trained dogs and rented four massive floodlights to illuminate surrounding streets, the Post said.
The razor wire was attached to the top of the chain-link fencing, all to deter the looting that was seen at Macy's on Monday night about 15 blocks south, starting shortly before an 11 p.m. curfew was to go into effect.
Video showed a stream of looters rushing into one of Macy's boarded up entrances before a steady stream of police finally arrive and also enter the building.
Saks' executives apparently took note, hiring security guards with at least seven German shepherds, Belgian Malinois and pit bulls to guard the store between 49th and 50th streets across from Rockefeller Center next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
One of the guards told the Post, the dogs "aren't friendly."
Additional police have been assigned to the area to help stem the riots that began in New York on Thursday.
Several hundred protesters Tuesday evening passed by Saks as they marched north along Fifth Avenue shortly after 7 p.m. ET, about an hour before the curfew – which had been moved forward from the night before – was to begin.
The noise of the protesters agitated the dogs, which began barking as some stopped to take pictures of the hounds. About 30 police in riot gear followed the marchers.
Rioting began in Minneapolis and spread to several other cities after George Floyd died Memorial Day while being restrained after being arrested for using a $20 counterfeit bill at a grocery store. A video of Floyd face down with a police officer with his knee on Floyd's neck has been widely circulated.
Four officers involved in the arrest were fired and the office in the video has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
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