New York City cops sat watching as looters ransacked stores in Manhattan

• Looters in New York City took freely from luxury stores and pharmacies alike on Sunday evening.
• In many instances, New York police officers sat and watched as people ransacked the stores.
• Some 400 people were arrested for looting on Sunday evening, the New York Times reported.
• On Monday evening, about 700 people were arrested for looting and other offenses, Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Solidarity protests for George Floyd have led to chaos in the streets in New York City.

While most demonstrations were peaceful — protesting police brutality and systemic racism after Floyd, a black man, died under the knee of a white police officer on his neck — some have been marked by violence and looting.

On numerous occasions, as looters took what they could from stores in Manhattan, police officers sat back and watched.

On Twitter, NBC News journalist Keith Feldman posted a video of a group of looters grabbing merchandise from a SoHo store and driving away in their cars.

"Looters are literally pulling up in nice cars and cleaning out stores in #Soho," he wrote. "What #Curfew?"

About three miles north of SoHo, others looted a North Face store in Midtown Manhattan.

"A van of cops drove up to this looted store, then left. Looters went in two more times — including while this NYPD van drove by," reported Matthew Chayes, a Newsday journalist.

High-end and luxury stores were not the only places of interest for looters, who also ransacked pharmacies and sneaker outlets, the New York Times reported.

"Must say I do not understand the NYPD strategy tonight," Rachel Olding, an editor at the Daily Beast, wrote on Twitter. "There's a huge group of officers just standing around here on Broadway/51st while looting is out of control in the surrounding blocks."

In the Bronx, north of Manhattan, video footage shows looters near Fordham University running in and out of a storefront as a police officer stands by.

In lieu of answering questions, the NYPD directed Insider to Mayor Bill de Blasio's Tuesday press conference.

Nearly 700 people were arrested on Monday evening for looting "and other offenses and attacks on officers," de Blasio said. Around 400 people were arrested for looting alone on Sunday night, according to the Times.

"There is no such thing as being able to loot with impunity. I am so sick of these efforts to mischaracterize reality," he said, answering a journalist's question about why police officers watched on as looters stole from stores.

"I saw police officers trying to deal with a very difficult situation," he added. Looting "is never, ever accepted."

• Read more:
• 'They gonna blame that on us': Videos show white protesters smashing windows and defacing stores as black protesters tell them they're endangering black lives
• A New York police officer drew his gun on protesters. Mayor Bill de Blasio says he 'should have his gun and badge taken away.'
• 'If we can make that arrest, we will': The NYPD is considering false-threat charges against Amy Cooper
• Police have arrested more than 4,200 people nationwide in protests following George Floyd's death