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Apple closes stores across US amid widespread protests, looting

Stores closed out of concern for the safety of employees and customers.

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Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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The Apple Store in San Francisco's Union Square was closed on Sunday out of concern for safety during riots.

Shara Tibken/CNET

Apple has reportedly temporarily closed many of its US retail stores as protests across the country turn violent in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The move, which affects stores across the US, is out concern for the safety of employees and customers as stores have been targeted by looters and vandalized, 9to5Mac reported Sunday.

"With the health and safety of our teams in mind, we've made the decision to keep a number of our stores in the US closed on Sunday," Apple said in a statement to 9to5Mac.

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to US streets for five nights in a row to protest the death of Floyd and other African Americans at the hands of the police. Curfews had been enacted in at least 25 cities, including Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed after a police officer kneeled on his neck.

The closures come just five days after Apple announced plans to reopen more than 100 of its 271 US stores across 21 states that were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Apple began shutting its stores throughout the West in the middle of March, as the coronavirus began spreading through cities in the US and Europe.

Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.