Apple closes up shop around the United States, prioritizing its employees' safety due to the series of protests and looting reports following Geoge Floyd's death.
Apple concerned for employees
Apple has temporarily closed all stores around the U. as protests and violence continue after George Floyd's death. Looters and vandals have already targeted the stores according to 9to5Mac reported on Sunday. "With the health and safety of our teams in mind, we've made the decision to keep a number of our stores in the U.S. closed on Sunday," Apple said in a statement to 9to5Mac.
"With the health and safety of our teams in mind, we've made the decision to keep a number of our stores in the U.S. closed on Sunday." as stated on Apple's website. The protests damaged and looted were in Portland, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Charleston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Scottsdale.
There were tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets for five nights in a row to protest the death of Floyd and other African Americans at the police's hands. Curfews are already in place within 25 cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed after a police offer knelt on his neck that he could no longer breathe.
Apple closed its doors shortly after the company announced that it would be reopening more than 100 of its 271 stores in the U.S. across 21 states, which were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Apple started closings stores throughout the West in March as the coronavirus began spreading throughout the U.S. and Europe.
More like looting than protests
The first target of the looters was an Apple store located in Uptown in Minneapolis. It was vandalized, looted, boarded up, and then done again the second time around. Apple products were stolen from stores, and once everything was picked clean by the looters, they rendered it impossible to operate once again.
The construction site at Apple's Tower Theatre restoration project even appeared to have been infiltrated by the looters last Friday, May 29. So, before its employees get involved in trouble and harmed, the company decided to shut down stores temporarily.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has said on a tweet regarding what has happened on the events that transpired after Floyd's death in saying, "Minneapolis is grieving for a reason. To paraphrase Dr. King, the negative peace, which is the absence of tension, is no substitute for the positive peace, which is the presence of justice. Justice is how we heal."
Minneapolis is grieving for a reason. To paraphrase Dr. King, the negative peace which is the absence of tension is no substitute for the positive peace which is the presence of justice. Justice is how we heal. — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 29, 2020
Before Apple announced shops' temporary closure, the company secured its stocks from looters as well as emptied the sales floor merchandise to stop damages and stolen goods to an extent. Some stores of Apple with extensive damage will be closed indefinitely until all will be calm, and maybe repair work could begin in earnest.
