Protest peacefully in Miami on Sunday. Get to work fighting for justice on Monday | Editorial
Following Saturday night’s violent demonstration in sections of downtown, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the Miami Herald Editorial Board Sunday morning that a 2 p.m. demonstration to protest the death of George Floyd will be allowed to take place, but that destruction of property and looting will be addressed swiftly by police.
Sunday’s night’s curfew will also begin earlier than Saturdays, beginning at 8 p.m.
“If you are there to peacefully demonstrate the injustice in this this country, that’s fine, but if you are here to destroy property, it will not be tolerated. You will be arrested,” Suarez said.
The mayor is right to take a stronger stand on the second day of demonstrations in Miami and cities across the country. He’s also right to ensure peaceful protesters have their say.
Saturday’s demonstration was peaceful for most of the day, but turned violent at nightfall, leading to the defacing and destruction of police cruisers and the looting of stores in the Bayside MarketPlace and downtown Miami. We have trouble believing that those whose message was one of anti-violence, especially police violence, suddenly went rogue just because the sun went down.
It should be a different story Sunday, the mayor told the Editorial Board.
“We are going to diffuse the crowd earlier and have a greater presence,” the mayor said.
We urge demonstrators to shun violent troublemakers, and we urge police to respond appropriately against inappropriate vs. appropriate behavior.
There will also be a strike team that will put out fires started by rogue demonstrators. The mayor said the Miami Police Department and the police chief “did an excellent job on Saturday — you did not see the confrontations between police and demonstrators like you saw in other cities — but there is also room for improvement, as always.” Police and protesters exchanged rocks, bottles, rubber bullets and tear gas.
Miami police at first allowed the demonstrators to roam free and disrupt traffic on I-95. Many of the demonstrators dispersed before nightfall, but by 7:30 p.m. police were faced with 100 to 200 hard-core demonstrators in front of the police department who were looking for trouble and began to throw water bottles at police set cruisers on fire — 17 were damaged, a handful set ablaze under the I-95 overpass near the Miami Police station. More than 50 demonstrators were arrested.
Both Suarez and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez have blamed the upturn in violence at the Miami demonstration on “outside agitators.” Suarez said they are easy to spot — they are often the ones carrying bull horns.
We echo Suarez’s sentiments: Demonstrators should speak out against racial injustice in America and Floyd’s death in peaceful protest on Sunday. Then, on Monday, channel that justifiable outrage into confronting such intolerance and injustice wherever it exists in their own lives.
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 11:55 AM.
