LOS ANGELES – Protesters chanted and marched through the streets Saturday afternoon outside the iconic Du-pars at the LA Farmer's Market, but a few hours later…the restaurant was looted.
"The vandalism started about 4:30p.m." said Frances Torio, who owns the classic diner.
The floor was flooded with water, covered with broken glass, and the door to the back office shattered.
Surveillance video shows two people inside the kitchen at Du-pars Saturday afternoon.
Torio says the looters got in by breaking a side window. Once inside, video shows them breaking the glass and then removing a safe from the back office on a dolly—stealing cash, documents, and some wireless tablets.
"After having two days of no sleep, it’s just been very emotional," Torio said.
She was able to replace the broken window and clean up most of the damage, but she is still waiting to hear how much the insurance company will cover.
Du-pars was again back to serving customers outside Monday morning. Torio says despite protests over the weekend, they had still seen a steady flow of diners, even on Saturday as the protests unfolded.
"Even though that day, people wanted to come in and dine while the protesters were out there and we said, 'No we can’t take you. We’re sorry. It’s not safe for you,'" she said.
Torio thought Monday might bring better news, another fresh start.
"We thought it was going to be a nice day, but again, it’s just like Saturday," she said.
Just before 10:30 in the morning, Du-pars got word of another possible protest in the works and had to shut down early for third day in a row.
Staff and servers removed furniture from the patio almost as if preparing for a storm. The restaurant has been trying to stay open 7am-7pm, but that simply hasn’t happened.
Du-pars doesn’t know when it will return to serving customers 24/7, but at this point, Torio and her staff are doing all they can just to remain open at all.