I don't think a few sheets of plywood will be sufficient. The terrorists in Portland and Seattle have managed to defeat such defenses.
For long term Washington residents, or those who know/knew them, it's a case of "been there, done that".
1968. (Images: WTOP)
I remember this mess.
It took 12,000 National Guard and 82nd Airborne troops to shut that crap down. The police ran out of tear gas the first night.
Over 100 cities had problems, but the President had a commission which studied the rioting, and what level of force was necessary to get the rioters off the streets and maintain order. THat information should have been readily available to every mayor in every major city in the US since then, and part of any plan to quell Civil Unrest. Only the lack of will/desire to stop rioting and looting, especially given that Federal assistance was offered, could be the reason that such behaviour continued for more than one or two nights, anywhere.
Considering the political orientation of the various mayors and Governors who have failed in the past few years to take the necessary steps to prevent, interdict, or quell such behaviour, I believe a clear pattern of treachery has been established on the part of those politicians who failed to regain civil order in their jurisdictions, not through mere incompetence, but through the abdication of their duties to their constituents and the business owners and residents in their jurisdictions. There is no excuse for this perfidy, no motive capable of justifying that betrayal, and no punishment adequately severe.
