An MTA bus is lit on fire by protesters. / Courtesy of Mario Tama, Getty Images
The Doors’s prophetic “Light My Fire” bears consistent relevance to the city in which the song was written: Los Angeles. Just last week after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ anticipated World Series win, the city erupted in chaos—and fires.
At least a dozen rioters, looters, and arsonists were arrested last Wednesday night following the Dodgers’s win over the New York Yankees.
Just after midnight local time, a group of about 200-300 people, whom the Los Angeles Police Department called “hostile,” gathered near Echo Park. Those surrounding the riot quickly took to social media to share videos of the bus catching fire. In one recording, an onlooker captures the moment the bus explodes—with applause in the background.
Though the source of the bus fire is unknown, one of these videos shows rioters with fireworks that were presumably lit inside the bus to cause the fire.
Firefighters extinguish the remains of the MTA bus. / Courtesy of the Citizen
On the same night, rioters of another group broke into a boarded-up sneaker store about an hour before the bus caught fire. According to the LAPD, the sneaker store wasn’t the only storefront in the area that was looted that night. The LAPD released that “several businesses” across the city were “vandalized” in such riots.
The masked looters. / Courtesy of Reuters
The rioters, as pictured, broke into the sneaker store around 11 p.m. wearing masks. Observer footage notes that along with the masked looters, other rioters flooded the building to grab whatever they could and make a run for it. The LAPD has not disclosed the number of arrests made at the shoe store, but they released that they were “aware of the looting.”
The LAPD stated to citizens that night: “If you are in the area, please use caution.”
Though Dodgers fans were surely riled up after their World Series win, law enforcement has good reason to speculate external involvement in the violent riots. Los Angeles has seen a surge in crime and lootings, and criminals were likely using the World Series as an excuse for lootings.
This past August, a mob in a similar fashion to the shoe store rioters, looted the Macy’s at Sherman Oaks. Nine masked looters who appeared in their late teens or early twenties cleared out the Macy’s, then ran away.
Los Angeles is no stranger to violence—especially to riots. But if victories for their team will wreak havoc upon the city, it’s a wonder why any Angeleno would want their team to win.
Edited by Brooke Weinrich