BLACK Lives Matter protests and “riots” after the death of George Floyd did as much as $2billion worth of damage. The costs have amounted to the costliest period of civil unrest in insurance history, overtaking the 1992 Los Angeles riots that cost $775million which, with inflation according to Axios, would be $1.42billion. Property Claim Services […]
BLACK Lives Matter protests and “riots” after the death of George Floyd did as much as $2billion worth of damage.
The costs have amounted to the costliest period of civil unrest in insurance history, overtaking the 1992 Los Angeles riots that cost $775million which, with inflation according to Axios, would be $1.42billion.
Property Claim Services assessed the damage caused during the Black Lives Matter protests from May 26 to June 8.
The timeline covers from just one day after George Floyd died after former cop Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for eight minutes.
Loretta L. Worters of the Insurance Information Institute told the outlet that this case is different because “it’s all over the country” and not just in one state.
“And this is still happening, so the losses could be significantly more,” Worters noted.
Tom Johansmeyer, head of PCS, added: “Not only is this the first, this is the first — kind of with a cymbal crash.”
Back in June, the city of Minneapolis said the looting and property damage had caused at least $55 million in destruction.
At the time, vandals had damaged or set fire to at least 220 buildings.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he would ask for state and federal aid to help rebuild after the civil unrest.
The insurance industry is reportedly anticipating further unrest following the November election.
“There could be riots that lead to significant losses that would meet our reporting thresholds,” Johansmeyer said.
