DENVER — Protests that have taken place over the past month in Denver are estimated to have cost the city and private businesses more than $5.5 million in damages and overtime costs, and that number is expected to climb, officials say.
The protests began in late May after George Floyd diedat the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
In Denver, as with much of the rest of the country, the protests included vandalism, with some participants spray-painting buildings and breaking out windows of government buildings and downtown businesses. Police blanketed neighborhoods in tear gas and fired nonlethal projectiles into the crowds.
So far, private businesses downtown have reported roughly $2 million in damage, said Britt Diehl, spokesperson for the Downtown Denver Partnership. But that’s likely a conservative estimate.
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The costs do not include those incurred by the removal of two statues this week.
A Civil War statue was toppled outside the Colorado State Capitol Thursday morning and a sculpture with ties to Christopher Columbus was also brought down late at night.
Police are looking into both incidences of vandalism.