Group to hold ‘law and order’ rally where Christopher Columbus statue was defaced

As protests against injustices after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have engulfed the country, a Miami group announced it will hold a “Law and Order” rally on Sunday afternoon at Bayfront Park.

The announcement was made Friday by Evelio Medina, the head of the Miami Brickell Chamber of Commerce who this week said he founded a group called the “Law Abiding Citizens Coalition.” He said he supported other protest movements but was angered by looting and civil unrest.

“You’re not going to run us out of our country,” Medina said during a press conference in front of the statute of Christopher Columbus next to Bayside Marketplace. The monument was vandalized this week by protesters.

Medina and another supporter draped an American flag over the spray-painted base of the statue. The graffiti also included a hammer and sickle, the emblem of the Communist Soviet Union.

Medina decried the vandalism, saying it ruined the legacy of the man who “opened up America.” When a television cameraman argued that Columbus’ legacy was tainted by the destruction of Native-American societies, Medina said: “Technically, they came here also. They just came a little bit earlier.”

Medina insisted that Sunday’s rally, which will also include people on boats in Biscayne Bay, was not a protest but was “to celebrate patriotism.” He also said he did not want to confront protesters of the Black Lives Matter movement who are scheduled to gather Sunday too.

“My intention is a peaceful rally,” said Medina, who is Cuban American.

He also lashed out at pushes around the country to strip police departments of funding. “It really disgusts me when you’re talking about defunding the police,” Medina said. “If there’s a bad apple in the bushel, you get rid of that person. You do not try to destroy our institutions that without them we wouldn’t have the freedom we have for 243-plus years.”

This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 4:22 PM.