Weekend Riots: Disinformation And Damage In NE Philly and Montco

“The entire community came out here and scared them away before they could get in… climbing through the window” said a foodservice operator working at NESco, a local sandwich shop in Northeast Philadelphia. The window he’s referring to is directly in front of him, sitting on a bench by the side of the shop, it’s boarded up with plywood, and on it, a message is written “We live here” and below that, “Thank you neighbors”.

According to footage from the shop’s cameras and neighbor’s home security cameras, a group of young people broke the side window of the shop in the very early morning, around 4 AM. Locals in the community heard the glass shatter and came to the rescue, scaring off the vandals before they were able to get into NorthEast Sandwich Company.

Reports of the damage were spread throughout Facebook community pages from the surrounding areas. Soon thereafter still images from the shop’s security camera showed the likeness of the two young men who had broken the window.

This unfortunate event was reported accurately on the Official Fox Chase Community Watch page, but in the neighborhoods in and surrounding Northeast Philadelphia, not all information is created equal.

In the Huntingdon Valley community page, there were reports Sunday evening that the Giant Food Store was being evacuated due to protesters, some had even heard that the store was being looted. Later evidence showed that the store had not been touched and, instead, was asking customers to leave so that they could close in accordance with the township’s guidelines.

Saturday night, a screenshot circulated of a Facebook thread showing a conversation where a person identifying themselves as “Joel_embiid” claimed that “Park wood (sic) is where the most cops live[,] look for the blue lights!” The screenshot sent Northeast neighborhoods into a panic, with multiple residents encouraging others to hide or remove anything on their property that could be construed as a sign of support for the Philadelphia PD.

There were no reports Saturday or Sunday night of vandalized houses that displayed their support of Police.

On a much larger scale, a screenshot of an Antifa twitter account claiming that they would “move into the residential areas” spread like wildfire across social media Sunday evening. The post was later reported to have been created by a white nationalist group hoping to stoke violence by NBC news.

On Sunday night, a number of Northeast Philadelphia businesses were certainly vandalized, but reports seem to be greatly exaggerated. Some businesses like the Semper Fi Mixed Martial Arts Academy in the Fox Chase section of the city, chose to board up their windows Monday afternoon just to be safe.

As disinformation and inaccuracies spread across social media, residents and small business owners are beginning to form parties to go out against curfew and keep watch over their neighborhood. Tensions are rising in Northeast Philadelphia.

“The community really stepped up,” said the foodservice operator outside of NESco as his co-worker pulls the metal gate down over the door. Hopefully, the community can be as vigilant over their information as they are of their neighborhood.

Those with information regarding the break-in at NorthEast Sandwich Company are encouraged to visit their Facebook Page.

This story initially claimed that the reports of Giant being looted came before the reports of evacuation, it has been updated to reflect the accurate timeline.