a day ago
Downtown Las Vegas businesses brace for weekend protests
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Marco Lopez, co-owner of Juice Stars, told 8 News Now his business was vandalized earlier this week during the Las Vegas protest downtown. Anti-ICE expletives were spray-painted on his storefront, and he spent nearly two hours cleaning it up.
'At first I was like 'ugh really,' but I came in, grabbed a razor blade, spray bottle, and just had to sit there and scrape slowly,' Lopez said. He is now preparing his business for the protests planned this weekend.
'I mean we're gonna prep as best we can, bring all our stuff inside, get stuff put away, possibly just take everything money-wise, valuable out of here,' said Lopez. The owner also plans to monitor the store's security cameras, since the business will be closed during those hours.
Other employees working at downtown businesses, who wanted to remain anonymous, told 8 News Now they are taking precautions. Many did not want to be named out of fear of retribution.
'The company we partnered with next door had to lock up their doors just as a precaution and for extra safety as well,' a woman told 8 News Now. She explained although they hope things won't get out of hand over the weekend, they are prepared to close their doors if it does.
'To close up early would impact our sales obviously, but we just want to make sure everyone's safe out there, especially our employees,' she said.
The downtown protest is expected to take place at the federal courthouse tomorrow from 5-7 p.m. According to a press release, it is meant to be 'peaceful protests against the Trump administration.'
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