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ONE YEAR LATER: Uptown businesses remember riots, enhance security

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The images of enraged rioters destroying the streets of uptown Charlotte last September are impossible to forget.

They’re engrained in the minds of business owners who found themselves caught in the middle of the violent unrest.

[PHOTOS: Uptown businesses damaged during second night of protests]

“All these windows in the front were broken, along with the windows over here,” Hyatt House Hotel general manager Matt Allen said as he showed Eyewitness News anchor Allison Latos where the business had been damaged.

Allen said he was stunned when protesters hurled bricks and rocks through the glass into the lobby, and two of his employees were punched in the face by protesters.

Employees rushed guests to their rooms, while several guests and workers took refuge in the hotel laundry room.

“The ones we couldn’t get onto the elevator, we moved them back here just to keep them safe,” Allen said.

Hyatt House bartender Ray Spain said getting all the alcohol out of the bar was his first concern.

“I put away all the liquor and everything like that because I figured the last thing they need to do is have a way to start a fire,” Spain said.

A few blocks away at Fitzgerald’s, Kevin Marcuse said he’s still shocked by what he saw outside of his bar.

“They were taking trash cans and smashing through the windows there, and we were watching it from right here,” Marcuse said.

Marcuse and seven of his colleagues stood guard over the business.

“It took weeks for both businesses to bounce back.

Allen said some of his employees never returned because they were simply too traumatized.

“We had a few people who, to be honest, never came back to work after that. They didn’t want to be in the middle of it all,” Allen said.

The Hyatt House has enhanced safety measures to protect customers. The doors and windows have reinforced glass and there’s an employee response plan in place.

Marcuse, however, admitted that he’s still uneasy about Charlotte’s future.

“Do you worry the city could see riots like that again?” Latos asked.

“I don’t know if we have resolved the anger that created the riots last year,” Marcuse said.

City officials said they’re working to keep an open dialogue with the community. They launched a website called One Year Later that outlines the city’s response and commitments to issues like boosting safety, public trust, affordable housing and jobs.

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