Looters targeting luxury brands

New York came under a curfew after looters raided stores in central Manhattan, targeting some of the city's top retailers and upmarket fashion stores.

Michael Kors on Fifth Avenue was among the luxury outlets hit, along with Nike, Balenciaga, Lego and electronics shops across Midtown.

Groups of young people moved from block to block around the district, usually bustling with tourists but deserted due to the coronavirus, with entire streets blocked by police.

Images from television showed some young people running out of a Best Buy electronics store before being apprehended by the police.

Stores in the south of Manhattan suffered a similar fate, with the flagship Macy's department store also targeted by looters.

Police said numerous stores were hit and arrests made in the hundreds across the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said a lot of stores around Madison Avenue had been hit and the situation was not acceptable.

The imposition of the curfew had been announced by the mayor and New York state governor Andrew Cuomo after protests and looting during the weekend - notably in the trendy SoHo district.

New York and about 40 other cities across the United States have imposed curfews amid the violent anti-race protests.

In Washington President Donald Trump said he was "dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property."

De Blasio, a Democrat, denounced Trump's "bellicose words" and "divisive rhetoric."

"I don't think it's a statement from the last few hours that has caused all this, I think it's what he's done for years that has contributed," he said.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said it has confirmed 79 cases of property damage at stores run by Korean Americans across the United States.

The ministry said 50 cases of property damage were reported from Philadelphia, 10 from Minneapolis, five from Raleigh and four from Atlanta.