Officials in New York, Chicago, and other cities say they have seen evidence suggesting that organized groups sought to incite violence at the recent weekend protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
New York’s top terrorism official, Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller, told reporters on Sunday that there was a high level of confidence within the NYPD that unnamed coordinated groups had organized roles such as scouts and medics, as well as equipment such as supplies of rocks, bottles, accelerants for breakaway groups to commit vandalism and violence.
He added that the groups sought to damage property “only in wealthier areas or at high-end stores run by corporate entities.” The groups also had a “complex network of bicycle scouts to move ahead of demonstrators in different directions” to help determine where police were located, so as to help direct people of the group to areas to commit acts of vandalism, where they believed law enforcement officials would not be present.
Miller also said that about one out of every seven arrests—of the 686 arrests since May 28 in New York—has been from out of state, and that they were from Massachusettes, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Iowa, Nevada, Virginia, Maryland, Texas, and St. Paul, Minnesota, according to the news station.
“There is no doubt—this was an organized effort last night,” she said. “There were clearly efforts to subvert the peaceful process and make it into something violent.”
“There’s no question that both the people who were fighting and brought the weapons, that was absolutely organized and choreographed,” Lightfoot added. “It seems also clear that the fires that were set, both of the vehicles and buildings, that that was organized and that was opportunistic, as well as the looting.”
Lightfoot did not single out any specific incidences, but said that there were instances where a group would break into and loot businesses, and load the goods into a U-Haul vehicle, or “caravans” or cars, and sometimes also set fires.
Lightfoot said she has reached out to the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives (ATF), and the U.S. Attorney’s office for help in investigating the situation, with a focus on the ATF’s bomb and arson unit.
Police have found stolen vehicles with number plates removed that were used to transport the flammable materials. They also found stolen goods and weapons in the cars, Harrington added.
“The fact that we’ve seen so many of them in so many places now makes us believe that this is part of that pattern that shows that this is in fact an organized activity and not some random act of rage,” he said, according to the newspaper.
Floyd was pronounced dead on May 25 after he was taken into police custody in Minneapolis on the same day. The 911 call that drew police to Floyd described a man suspected of paying with counterfeit money. He was “awfully drunk and he’s not in control of himself.”
Disturbing video footage on the day showed a police officer using his knee on Floyd’s neck to pin him to the ground. Floyd, who was unarmed and handcuffed, pleaded to the officers while repeatedly calling out “I can’t breathe” during the episode.
