It depends on the scale of property damage - lives aren’t worth infinite amounts after all. I would say damage in the millions is automatically equivalent to murder. But it doesn’t even have to go that far. Destroying someone’s small business (as an example) is also tantamount to murder - if a person pours years of their life, taking time away from their family, experiencing great stress, taking risks, and surviving via sheer grit, and then sees all of that destroyed by rioting black bloc hooligans in one short night, they would be utterly devastated. That’s a human cost and it is comparable to murder because someone poured their life into building that business.

Then there’s collateral damage. Much of the rioting in the last year was criminality in service of a political goal. That is the literal definition of terrorism. These actions create fear in political opponents and aim to achieve political goals outside our legal process. That has a human cost.

But if I had to simplify it, life is a period of time. And time is used by people to acquire or create property. Therefore when that property is stolen or destroyed, it is taking away life.

A more comprehensive opinion: https://fee.org/articles/vandalism-is-violence-destructive-r...