New Posts
  • Hi there guest! Welcome to PoliticalJack.com. Register for free to join our community?

‘Professional Agitators Are Here To Cause Trouble,’ Miami-Dade Mayor On Violence Incited At George Floyd Protest

sensible don

Governor
Supporting Member
Well, it seems you can't pass up a chance to make minorities look bad now can you...............




“The residents of Miami Dade County, the good residents of Miami Dade County, who are rightly expressing their anger and what happened, but actually outside agitators, professional agitators that are here to cause trouble. We think that we have some in our midst,” said Mayor Gimenez to CBS4 News. “And our message is do not be swayed by these professional agitators asking you to do something, partake in something you shouldn’t be if you are actually participating in one of these demonstrations.”

CBS4’s Jim DeFede also reporting Saturday night that senior law enforcement sources also believe outside agitators are responsible.

Jim said on CBS4 News at 11, “Police have been monitoring social media for the past couple of days and found out that in the last 48 hours, there were some high level meetings between many of the police chiefs in Miami and South Florida, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, a number of conference calls, where they were briefed on the idea that there are outside agitators.”

However, it’s not known who they are.

GALLERY: MIAMI DEMONSTRATION TURNS VIOLENT

“The Attorney General was talking about Antifa; the President has talked about Antifa. We’ve been hearing these reports from other places around the country talking about outside agitators who are taking advantage of the situation. So at the very least, what I can tell you is that the backdrop for the police was that they believed going into tonight, that there were going to be these outside agitators who are going to come in and try to capitalize and use the peaceful protesters to try to ignite something larger,” said DeFede. “And I can also tell you that in the course of the protest today, police detained two individuals who they found backpacks filled with rocks and rubber hammers and who they believe are linked to various groups, you know, that are on the left, who sort of that Antifa type of wing who they believe came to Miami to help instigate things. They’ve been tracking them for days in terms of social media, they’ve been tracking others in terms of social media.”

One other point Jim wanted to make was about putting Saturday’s violence into perspective.

“Compared to the images that are coming out of Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Washington DC, Miami’s disturbances were fairly well contained, and they’ve dispersed fairly quickly after a few hours. Now we’ll have to see how it plays out overnight but I don’t think that we’re at that same level and if this is all we have, this isn’t a bad night for Miami at the end of the day. It’s not good overall, but this could have been a lot worse.”

After the dust settles on Saturday night’s events, Jim says, “From what I understand, there is going to be meetings between members of Black Lives Matter, and some of the other community groups who are going to sit down with the Miami Dade Police Chiefs Association to try to come up with some ideas as to how to build confidence in the community, that the police agencies here are doing better.” He added, “That’s a good step. The departments themselves need to do a better job. They need to focus more their attention on themselves, and you cannot be a good cop if you see bad cops doing bad things. It takes the entire police force to police itself. It can’t just be done from the outside and the business community and other members of this community need to step forward as well.”
 

sensible don

Governor
Supporting Member
Officials blame differing groups of 'outsiders' for violence at protests

As protests over the death of George Floyd grow in cities across the U.S., government officials have been warning of the “outsiders” — groups of organized rioters they say are flooding into major cities not to call for justice but to cause destruction.

But the state and federal officials have offered differing assessments of who the outsiders are. They’ve blamed left-wing extremists, far-right white nationalists and even suggested the involvement of drug cartels. These leaders have offered little evidence to back up those claims, and the chaos of the protests makes verifying identities and motives exceedingly difficult.

Police officers across the country were gearing up Saturday for another night of potentially violent clashes in major cities. Some states had even called in the National Guard to aid overwhelmed police.

The finger-pointing on both sides of the political spectrum is likely to deepen the already-fraught political divide in the U.S., allowing politicians to advance the theory that aligns with their political view and distract from the underlying frustrations that triggered the protests.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Saturday told reporters he’d heard unconfirmed reports that white supremacists were coming from elsewhere to stoke the violence and that even drug cartels “are trying to take advantage of the chaos.” John Harrington, the state’s commissioner of public safety, later said they had received intel reports on white supremacists.

“But I cannot say that we have confirmed observations of local law enforcement to say that we’ve seen cells of white supremacists in the area,” he said Saturday.

But President Donald Trump alleged the violence was “being led by Antifa and other radical groups.” Antifa, short for anti-fascists, is an umbrella term for left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

Attorney General William Barr later seemed to echo Mr. Trump’s assertion, saying the violent incidents in Minneapolis were driven by groups using “Antifa-like tactics.” Mr. Barr vowed that federal prosecutors across the country would use federal riots statutes to charge protesters who cross state lines to participate in violent rioting.

A Justice Department spokesperson said the attorney general’s assertion was based on information provided from state and local law enforcement agencies but did not detail what that information entailed.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was even more vague, declining to point to any particular ideology in his assessment. His agency has heard that “a number of different groups are involved in these whether it’s Antifa or it’s others, frankly,” he said. The groups appeared to be organized and using tactics that wouldn’t normally happen in peaceful protest, he said, though he didn’t elaborate.

While the motives behind the violence were unclear, there was firmer evidence that some of the protesters were coming to the demonstrations from outside the urban centers that have been the epicenter of the demonstrations

In New York City, federal officials were bringing charges against several suspects, including one of two sisters from upstate New York accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail through the back window of a police van in Brooklyn, a law enforcement official said. The initially peaceful demonstrations in New York City over Floyd’s death spiraled into chaos as night fell Friday. Protesters confronted police officers, destroying police vehicles and setting fires.

In Detroit, 37 of the 60 people who were arrested in overnight protests did not live in the city — and many came from nearby suburbs, police Chief James Craig said Saturday. Although Detroit is about 80% black, many of those arrested were white.

“We support the right to free speech. We support peaceful protests,” Chief Craig told reporters. “If you want to disrupt, stay home and disrupt in your own community.”

Initially, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said he’d been told all of those arrested in his city Friday were from outside the state. But a spokesman said Saturday night that the mayor had later learned more than half are from Minnesota.

In Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, 47 of the 57 people arrested in protest incidents through Saturday morning had provided a Minnesota address to authorities, according to Jeremy Zoss, a spokesman for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.

M. Carter expressed the opinion of many black activists in the Twin Cities who have expressed disbelief that local residents would destroy their own neighborhoods, burning down essential services and damaging small businesses. And while it was local protesters and groups that staged initial angry — but peaceful — demonstrations, it was agitators from elsewhere that strategically escalated the tension by causing damage and setting fires, they said. Their beliefs were reinforced by the large numbers of white people in the protests in Minneapolis.

“I think about a third of the people are from out of town here to make the city burn,” said Justin Terrell, executive director of the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage. “It is just putting black people in a crossfire not just between fascists and anarchists — but putting us in a crossfire with the National Guard.”

It’s exceedingly difficult in the chaos and dark of the events to prove these claims. The challenge is made harder in the Minnesota protest, where very few arrests were made in the first two nights of unrest. St. Paul arrest records showed 18 people were arrested on charges related to civil unrest from Thursday to early Saturday morning. Of those, only four were from outside the state; two were listed as unknown.

Still, some civil rights leaders had a clear message for anyone coming to protest, even those who show up to call for justice for Floyd.
 

sensible don

Governor
Supporting Member
Who is the umbrella man who started damage at AutoZone?

Video footage showing the man who seemingly sparked the criminal damage at AutoZone in Minneapolis has become a huge talking point on social media.

Footage from the scene near the Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct shows protesters taking cover near the store as police fired rubber bullets and threw flash bangs, with some protesters responding by throwing projectiles.

It's at this point in the video below that smashing can be heard from behind the recorder, who turns round to see a white man wearing all black, a gas mask, and carrying an umbrella, smashing the windows at the AutoZone.

The man's identity is not revealed, though his appearance has sparked many theories online.


J-Mo. ️‍@javimorillo

https://twitter.com/javimorillo/status/1266142878889316353

This video was removed from YouTube. It shows exactly who broke windows at AutoZone. Please retweet and help identify the instigator. #JusticeForFloyd

Embedded video


2,126

7:02 PM - May 28, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy
2,269 people are talking about this
 

sensible don

Governor
Supporting Member
What followed then was further criminal damage at the AutoZone, which eventually led to a fire being set in the store, and at several more buildings in the area, including a Wendy's and an affordable housing complex, both of which burned down.

Screen Shot 2020-05-28 at 6.39.58 PM


Bring Me The News has asked Minneapolis Police Department for a comment on whether it has launched an investigation to find the culprit. We have not received a response.

St. Paul PD debunks internet rumor
St. Paul PD however moved to quell rumors online that the culprit is one of their officers.

"We are aware of the social media post that erroneously identifies one of our officers as the person caught on video breaking windows in Minneapolis. We've seen it. We've looked into it. And it's false.

KEY FACTS
The man first drew attention Wednesday, when he was filmed breaking the windows of an AutoZone near the Minneapolis Third Precinct as protesters appeared to look on in confusion before intervening and asking him if he was a police officer.
The white man—decked out in an all-black outfit, including a gas mask and hoodie, and a black umbrella—stood out from protesters on the scene.
Even Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison posted the video and asked if any of his followers could identify the man, adding he “doesn’t look like any civil rights [protester] I have ever seen.”
Rumors soon began to swirl that the man was actually a police officer from a neighboring community sent in as an “agent provocateur,” or even a member of the white supremacist movement looking to spark widespread violence.
 

JuliefromOhio

President
Supporting Member
Barr and Trump said ANTIFA. Since neither Barr nor Trump tell the truth, we can safely assume it's not ANTIFA.
 
Top