The downtown Atlanta headquarters of the State Bar of Georgia was defaced with graffiti and broken windows after a peaceful demonstration against police brutality devolved into riots that spread across the city Friday night.

Bar president Darrell Sutton reported in a letter to members Saturday, "As the crowds around CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park were dispersed, some were driven up Marietta Street toward the Bar Center. Some of them threw rocks, trash cans and other objects at the building, breaking glass in the windows and doors of the Marietta Street entrance, as well as other street-level windows along that side of the building. There was also graffiti spray-painted along one of the walls adjacent to the Marietta Street entrance."

Sutton reported that the security guard on duty "had a harrowing experience, but there were no intruders and he is safe."

"Early today, many of your colleagues joined hundreds of others in downtown Atlanta to aid in clean-up efforts. That included the boarding of the Bar Center's damaged windows and doors, and the building remains secure," he added. "Please take some time today to reflect and pray for our city, state and country; for the identification of the common ground where we can stand together and begin to find change and healing."

The remains of a grand piano in the lobby of the Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta after a night of violent protests, rioting and looting on Friday. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

The lobby of the Peachtree Street building housing the Daily Report's editorial department, a bank and a host of law firms and other offices also suffered broken windows. Our space on the 19th floor was untouched, but the city's pain from the riots and what caused them reaches far beyond the shards of glass.

Atlanta's mayor, a practicing lawyer before she entered public service, showed how black mothers fear for their sons while railing against "chaos' that disgraced the legacy of hometown hero Martin Luther King Jr.

The building lobby where the Daily Report and ALM's offices are located, at 260 Peachtree Street N.E. in Atlanta, were damaged from the rioting in Atlanta Friday night. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

A former chief justice of the state Supreme Court expressed via social media African Americans' exhaustion and frustration with racism.

Two white lawyers running offices near riot sites downtown noted no damage to their offices, and they empathized with the protesters who stayed peaceful.

'Black boys shouldn't be out today.'

Friday's riots capped a week when a video spread showing a white police officer in Minneapolis—now charged with third-degree murder—pressing his knee into the neck of a black man, George Floyd, who cries out, "I can't breathe" before he died.

In Atlanta, demonstrators prompted by Floyd's death marched from Centennial Olympic Park to the State Capitol and back. An Atlanta police spokesman reported it was peaceful before devolving into at least three officers being injured and multiple people being arrested.

Police endured "nearly constant assault, including protesters shooting BB guns at them, throwing bricks, bottles, rocks and knives at them as they continue their efforts to protect property and lives," he reported.

Destruction and looting occurred downtown, at the College Football Hall of Fame, a FedEx office, a Starbucks and then in Buckhead at Phipps Plaza, a Target store and an AT&T store, according to the police. News photos showed burning police cars and broken windows at CNN Center.

On Friday night, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms urged violent demonstrators to go home.

"I am a mother to four black children in America, one of whom is 18 years old," she told a press conference. "And when I saw the murder of George Floyd, I hurt like a mother would hurt. And yesterday, when I heard there were rumors about violent protests in Atlanta, I did what a mother would do. I called my son and I said, 'Where are you?' I said, 'I cannot protect you,' and black boys shouldn't be out today. So you're not going to out-concern me and out-care me about where we are in America."

"This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. This is chaos," she added. "A protest has purpose. When Dr. King was assassinated, we didn't do this to our city. So if you love this city—his city that has had a legacy of black mayors and black police chiefs and people who care about this city, where more than 50% of the business owners in metro Atlanta are minority business owners—if you care about this city, then go home. And pray that somebody like Rev. (Joe) Beasley will come and talk to you and give you some instructions on what a protest should look like and how you effectuate change in America."

'Painful but true'

Former Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, the second black member of the Supreme Court of Georgia in history, posted on social media a passage from an article that she described as "painful but true."