BLM protesters say Miami police have escalated force against them, and want it stopped
Demonstrators gathered in downtown Miami Tuesday night to demand police drop all charges filed against protesters and end their use of “excessive force tactics” at protests.
About 40 people gathered at the Torch of Friendship in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, holding signs bearing phrases like “dismantle the system” and “end police brutality” while chanting “Black Lives Matter.” A row of police cars lined a nearby street as the protest took place.
Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina confirmed in an emailed statement to the Miami Herald Friday that the department’s protest response has gotten tougher, specifically by arresting anyone illegally blocking the streets while protesting.
“Purposely impeding the safe flow of traffic places protesters, drivers and officers in great danger and cannot continue to be tolerated,” Colina said. “The Miami Police Department will continue to take the necessary enforcement action to protect everyone’s safety and allow for the legal and peaceful exercise of everyone’s Constitutional right to protest.”
While protests downtown are smaller than they were in the first weeks of protests after the killing of George Floyd on May 25, some argue police are aggressively making arrests. As of Friday, 56 protesters were arrested on various charges in July, the majority for blocking the roadways.
Kristine Padgett, 26, attends Miami protests to give medical aid to anyone who gets hurt. She said she has experienced cops increasingly using more force; she said she has been teargassed and hit by rubber bullets. Most recently, she was arrested along with a large group of protesters over the weekend.
“We started with a lot of people and our numbers have slowly dwindled,” Padgett said. “And as our numbers have dwindled, we have actually gotten more and more police brutality and more and more escalation of the police being here.”
She said Miami police charging protesters with blocking traffic does not make any sense.
“The thing is tourists will jaywalk here in the middle of the street all the time right next to us,” Padgett said. “But we’ll be walking across the crosswalk when we have a cross sign and they’ll arrest us because we’re blocking traffic.”
At the protest, Francois Alexandre, founder of Justice 4 Miami, read a demand letter addressed to the police chief, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle that was signed off by more than 30 community leaders and activists.
“In recent weeks, we have witnessed an escalation of arrests and excessive force by Miami police against peaceful demonstrators,” Alexandre said. “The obvious purpose is to intimidate demonstrators and discourage the exercise of constitutionally protected free speech rights. The police department itself admits they have escalated tactics against peaceful demonstrations since July 2.”
The letter says that police are targeting known street protest leaders and are charging them with crimes to hurt the protest movement.
“We are appalled that our chief of police has personally been leading a media offensive that excuses violent and unnecessary confrontations by officers under his command,” Alexandre said, “while spreading the unfounded claim that the Black Lives Matter protests are responsible for the rise in Florida of COVID-19.”
The letter signers demanded Miami police officers stop using force on protesters, drop all charges against protesters who have been arrested since the death of Floyd, and end efforts to “discredit” the local Black Lives Matter movement.
Yasmin Webb, 19, said she protests at the Torch of Friendship almost every day. She has been arrested four times, most recently on Sunday, where she said she sat in a hot police car for hours before being taken inside the police station.
“It was a terrible experience,” Webb said. “I couldn’t breathe.”
Jo Martinez, 28, said he was teargassed and shot with rubber bullets by police while protesting recently.
“The police have and continue to escalate their tactics as of the beginning of July to make it seem like we are violent or even to paint the picture that what we’re doing is not justified,” Martinez said. “But we have consistently been exercising our First Amendment rights and we will continue to until we get the things we’re demanding.”
He said the number of cop cars that showed up for the small gathering Tuesday was unnecessary.
“This is a waste of our tax dollars right now,” Martinez said. “They’re not keeping anyone safe”
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 10:34 PM.