Providence protest turns violent: 40 arrested; police hit by bricks

PROVIDENCE - The streets of Providence erupted into chaos early Tuesday morning over the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died last week in Minneapolis after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Forty people were arrested; several Providence police officers and state troopers were hit by bricks, according to Rhode Island State Police Col. James Manni.

Around midnight, more than 300 people, most of them youth, gathered in front of the Providence Place mall where they blocked Francis Street and faced off with dozens of Providence police officers and state troopers.

A police cruiser was set on fire, sending a giant, swirling plume of black smoke into the air.

Protesters hurled objects at the mall windows and some of them gained entry into the building. At one point, flashing alarms began to go off inside the mall.

The tumultuous morning fell in line with a pattern many cities have seen in recent days of peaceful protests by day and destructive riots after dark that are the result of mounting of anger over the repeated killings of black Americans by police. A peaceful protest in Providence on Saturday organized by Black Lives Matter Rhode Island drew about 2,000 people to the State House and concluded with no arrests.

The actions early Tuesday morning were not organized by Black Lives Matter Rhode Island. A flier of unknown origin reading “Providence Looting 12:00 AM Tonight! (Expletive) The Police” circulated on social media the previous day.

At one point Tuesday morning, a protester held up her cellphone to a line of Providence police officers and asked them one-by-one, “Would you have intervened in George Floyd’s death?”

The situation in front of the mall grew more tense as protesters pushed in closer to the building and officers tried to force them back. Officers handcuffed some protesters.

A tactical unit in riot gear arrived before 2 a.m. and law enforcement began to fire what appeared to be tear gas canisters into the crowd.

Many young people then ran from the scene, some of them with watering eyes. One young woman knelt to the ground in front of the Amtrak station and pulled a sweatshirt over her face.

An ambulance arrived just after 2 a.m.

Even as the crowd in front of the mall began to disperse, the early morning hours continued to be punctuated by the sounds of fireworks exploding, glass shattering and police sirens wailing.

Throughout downtown Providence, windows of apartment buildings, hotels and businesses were smashed and shattered glass covered the sidewalks.

Protesters broke windows and “ransacked” the bar at Cafe Nuovo, a restaurant at One Citizens Plaza, the restaurant said in a Facebook post.

As of 3 a.m., large groups of officers in full tactical gear were patrolling the streets in formation.

– With reports from Journal Staff Writer Tom Mooney.