Amid Miami protests, fireworks for COVID-19 responders still on, despite county pleas
As hundreds marched through Miami’s streets Saturday to protest police brutality and the killing of George Floyd, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez asked the city of Miami to cancel a previously scheduled fireworks display to honor first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city agency overseeing the event rebuffed the request, calling it a political shot stemming from disagreement over how to manage local government’s response to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The county mayor asked the city to cancel the event about two hours before it was set to begin, suggesting in a statement that the fireworks could set off an escalation of the protest.
“The sound of fireworks could easily be mistaken for explosions, and we want to make sure that all of our residents are safe and able to exercise their First Amendment right to protest without any fear of violence,” Gimenez said.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, chairman of the agency who manages parks on Miami’s downtown waterfront where the eight-minute display was scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m., told the Miami Herald the show will go on as planned.
“This is not taking anything away from the anger, the disgust, that the vast majority of people in this country feel, including us in the city of Miami government, with the murder of George Floyd,” Carollo said. “This is to honor first responders. This is not take anything away from anybody.”
Carollo accused Gimenez of trying to set up a narrative where the city could be blamed for an escalation in the protest. The commissioner said the county mayor is trying to get back at the city because Miami commissioners have called for Gimenez to implement health screening for all travelers arriving at Miami International Airport.
Commissioners this week unanimously voted to hold a straw poll asking the city’s voters if the airport should have mass health screening for arriving passengers. Gimenez blasted the move, calling it “futile, ridiculous and totally political.”
On Saturday night, Carollo returned the volley.
“It’s obvious this is part his political campaign for Congress,” Carollo said of Gimenez, a Congressional candidate who in the past has been closely aligned with Carollo. “This is definitely a political move by the county mayor.”
I stand with my colleagues and our Mayor in honoring our first responders with tonight’s fireworks display. Their courage must be celebrated. @joeflech @doug_hanks
— Alex Diaz de la Portilla (@alexDLPmiami) May 30, 2020
As of 7:30 p.m., the fireworks display was still scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m.
The rift illustrated the intersection of local political tensions amid mounting social unrest over race relations in America during a global pandemic. As demonstrators protested the killing of an unarmed black man by a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck, Miami-Dade’s two largest governments disagreed on whether a fireworks show to thank nurses, fire fighters and police officers who have worked through the pandemic could have unintended consequences.
Before a firework had been shot off, the protest escalated outside Miami police headquarters after the mass of people temporarily shut down I-95 to demonstrate in the highway.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd that had gathered behind the police station. People spray-painted “f---” on a police car, and another squad car under I-95 was set ablaze.
