After weekend of violent clashes between police and protesters, South Florida starts cleanup
After two days of peaceful protests that devolved into violent confrontations between South Florida police and demonstrators, Fort Lauderdale awoke on Monday to find National Guard troops standing watch on city streets as cleanup crews swept sidewalks and scrubbed graffiti from buildings.
In Miami, there were more signs that businesses vandalized and looted during the weekend will reopen and return to some semblance of normal after local demonstrators participated in nationwide protests over the death of a handcuffed and unarmed black man at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
The demonstrations in Miami and Fort Lauderdale — and similar protests in almost every major metropolitan area of Florida — appeared to avoid the level of widespread violence reported in cities such as Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Atlanta. There were no deaths or serious injuries reported in South Florida.
But the mass gatherings in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic have led government officials and public health experts to raise concerns that the protests could result in a spike of COVID-19 cases as states and cities are reopening.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said he weighed concerns about COVID-19 when deciding whether the city would allow a demonstration to take place Sunday at a city park on East Las Olas Boulevard.
The protest drew hundreds of people, and organizers brought masks to distribute to demonstrators. But many chose not to wear masks and no one appeared to be following social distancing guidelines.
“We’re under a COVID-19 warning,” Trantalis said on Sunday before the demonstration had begun. “There are certain protocols that must be practiced in public places.... Under these circumstances, we’d have every right to not allow it but at the same time we’re going to let them assemble and let them speak.”
The Fort Lauderdale protest began peacefully but later turned violent. On Monday, the Associated Press identified a Fort Lauderdale police officer who had been suspended Sunday night after video showed he pushed a kneeling woman to the ground. Other police officers pushed him away from the woman and down the street after the incident.
Fort Lauderdale Police Chif Rick Maglione told the AP that Ofc. Steven Poherence had been relieved of duty and will be investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Poherence was hired in October 2016 and had worked for the Florida Highway Patrol prior to joining Fort Lauderdale’s police department, said spokeswoman Casey Liening.
On Sunday night, Maglione told reporters that an officer’s call for assistance may have been the spark that led to the confrontation between police and protesters.
Maglione said details about the skirmish remained fuzzy in the early going. But he said an officer had called for help around the time protesters began throwing water bottles at police and officers fired tear gas into the crowd.
“There was an officer in need of assistance. Several officers responded to provide that assistance,” Maglione said. “That officer was in fear.”
Video of the protest appeared to show that protesters began throwing water bottles at police after an officer shoved a woman from behind while walking back toward the Broward County Public Library and away from the crowd. Maglione said the officer has been suspended and the incident is under investigation.
Fort Lauderdale declared a state of emergency and Broward County officials ordered a curfew after the confrontation between police and protesters.
On Monday morning, National Guard Members stood watch over the stretch of street with the most damage.
Many of the restaurants and bars on Southwest Second Street had at least one broken window, as did a Broward County government building and the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale in downtown.
City cleanup crews were busy power washing graffiti off buildings and sweeping sidewalks of the leftover protest signs and bandannas.
A trash can near Huizenga Plaza was overflowing with water bottles and used fireworks. Next to it sat nearly unused gallons of milk used by some protesters to counter the effects of tear gas.
Sunday night’s protests took a turn in the evening after a confrontation between protesters and a police officer in a city parking garage. A protester video obtained by WPLG Channel 10 showed a police officer shoving a kneeling woman to the ground. After that, protesters began to hurl water bottles and rocks at the cops, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Mayor Dean Trantalis announced Sunday night the officer has been taken off duty.
In Miami, where squad cars were set ablaze and shops were looted Saturday night, hundreds of demonstrators avoided clashes with police even as they crowded onto major highways and officers gathered in riot gear on Sunday.
There were several tense moments with police, with Miami-Dade officers stationed on Port Boulevard in riot gear warning crowds to disperse over a loud speaker when it appeared they were blocking the entrance to Port Miami. The protest headed west, and hundreds collected on the westbound lanes of the Interstate-395 over downtown, forcing the Florida Highway Patrol to block the highway.
Miami-Dade Corrections said that 35 people were arrested overnight and held at county jails, most of them charged with curfew violations. Of the 35 arrested, 28 are from Miami-Dade County, four are from Broward County, one is from Orlando, one from Texas and one from Pennsylvania, the department said on Twitter.
Among those arrested in Miami on Sunday night was a local journalist, Joel Franco, a producer for WSVN-Channel 7 who said on Twitter that he had been charged with a curfew violation even though he presented police with his media credentials. Working journalists are supposed to be exempted from the curfew.
As the city of Miami’s 8 p.m. curfew approached, police warned demonstrators to leave the streets, but one group of people vandalized a CVS drug store, breaking a storefront window. But some demonstrators pushed back against the looters and kept them from entering the store.
The incident was captured on video and broadcast by local TV news, leading Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to issue a public call to identify the demonstrators so that Gimenez could meet with them and commend their actions. Gimenez, a Republican, is running for Congress against Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in November’s election.
While Miami-Dade saw mostly peaceful protests on Sunday, Fort Lauderdale demonstrations that began peacefully ended in a violent confrontation between local police and some protesters.
Windows were blown out at the county government center and a few shops on Las Olas Boulevard were looted. Some protesters said they were fired upon outside the Broward County library without warning, while police and politicians blamed the flare-ups on outside agitators unaffiliated with organized marches.
Fort Lauderdale police reported two arrests from Sunday’s demonstrations and unspecified damage to “a couple of police cars,” Liening said.
Brickell, Miami’s central business district, showed little evidence of the weekend’s events Monday morning.
Construction crews were busy at work; a man dressed in blue khakis and a white polo chattered away on his cellphone at Luna Park restaurant’s outdoor seating area while a woman sat listening to her laptop through headphones. A woman in night slippers walked her small white Yorkie nearby.
At Brickell City Centre, shops were open but empty; none damaged. The main event of the morning occurred when a crowd of about two dozen that had been waiting outside the Apple store learned it would not be opening Monday, and slowly dispersed. A City Centre representative said he did not know the reason for the closure.
But one prominent downtown Miami shopping plaza planned to reopen after being vandalized and looted on Saturday night.
Police pulled a banner that said Bayside Marketplace was “Closed for Business” on Monday morning as multiple workers and executives said the plan is to reopen today.
Lorena Fernandez, Bayside’s marketing manager, said the mall was opening from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The open-air mall closed Sunday after several of its stores were ransacked Saturday night. Boards remained over damaged doors Monday morning at Lacoste and other storefronts nearby that were burglarized and damaged by a crowd of people, as shown by videos posted on social media.
Most Bayside stores and restaurants were untouched during the incident, but planters were destroyed, trash cans overturned and glass littered the walkways Sunday.
After a weekend of unrest and protests, it was unclear early Monday whether additional demonstrations are planned in South Florida. But curfews will continue in Miami-Dade and Broward from 9 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday. Some cities may have stricter rules. In Miami, the curfew begins at 8 p.m.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 8:47 AM with the headline "After weekend of violent clashes between police and protesters, South Florida starts cleanup."
