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Days after a riot downtown, Providence police expect a peaceful demonstration Friday

Commissioner says there is no “credible threat” of violence

By Amanda Milkovits Globe Staff,Updated June 5, 2020, 7:17 a.m.
People swept up broken glass from smashed storefront windows in downtown Providence Tuesday.
People swept up broken glass from smashed storefront windows in downtown Providence Tuesday.Steven Senne/Associated Press

PROVIDENCE -- On the eve of another Black Lives Matter protest in the city, police officials sought to assure people that the gathering would be safe.

“We have no credible information of any plans for violence,” said Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare. “We will ensure it’s peaceful and calm. We will do everything that we can to have a peaceful demonstration that this community wants and needs and should have.”

The demonstration is protesting police brutality, especially the death last week of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest as Floyd pleaded for his life. The officer, Derek Chauvin, and three other officers were fired and have been charged in Floyd’s death.

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It is expected to start at about 4:30 p.m. at Kennedy Plaza and Central High School, followed by a march to the State House. Chief Hugh T. Clements Jr. said police had been working with the organizers and local leaders to ensure a “peaceful assembly where young voices have an opportunity to be heard.”

The state police and National Guard will also be on hand to keep the peace, Pare said.

This is the second Black Lives Matter rally in less than a week, but a lot has changed since the first peaceful rally that drew nearly 2,000 people to the State House last Saturday.

Two nights after that rally, several hundred people gathered outside Providence Place mall late Monday night, purportedly to protest, and quickly turned into a mob. People broke into the mall and looted stores, smashed into downtown businesses, set fire to a police cruiser, and pelted officers with rocks.

More than 65 people were arrested, including a Warwick woman arraigned Thursday on charges of jumping on the cruiser just before someone lit it on fire.

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Authorities said the people out that night weren’t interested in protesting -- they were intent on destruction.

The rioting shocked the city and spurred nightly curfews in Providence and other Rhode Island cities about more looting. Pare said police will enforce the 9 p.m. curfew after Friday’s demonstration.

Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com