A tale of two cities

When it comes to protests, Valley prepares for the worst; hopes for best

WOONSOCKET – With the windows of City Hall, the police station and other civic landmarks covered in plywood, the battened-down city got a taste of the mayhem it was bracing for Tuesday night as a wave of violent unrest swept the nation in reaction to the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer last week.

Compared to what happened 24 hours earlier in Providence, when scores of looters and vandals broke into Providence Place Mall, destroyed shop windows and torched a police car, the city experienced a night of tranquility, though police did arrest three men for smashing a glass partition at a RIPTA bus stop shortly before midnight. One, a Worcester resident, was carrying a machete and a hatchet.

In nearby Pawtucket, too, the city and its police prepared for the worst but ended up breathing a sigh of relief after an uneventful night.

“Nothing, thank God,” said Detective Sgt. Christopher LeFort. “We had a calm night. Hopefully it will stay that way.”

With a possible protest of Floyd’s killing planned in Woonsocket after press time on Wednesday, Deputy Woonsocket Police Chief Michael Lemoine also had his fingers crossed.

Lemoine and Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt said the city began preparing to deal with attacks on city buildings after threats were posted on social media Tuesday. Lemoine said the police also received credible information from law enforcement and other sources.

In an interview on radio station WNRI, Baldelli-Hunt said city officials began fielding information as early as 10 a.m. on Tuesday and initiated precautionary measures.

By late afternoon, city residents could see the reaction just by going for a walk downtown. In a sight almost as jarring as the looting itself, one building after another – from private storefronts like Johnny’s Furniture and the architectural gem of the 1926 Stadium Theater to City Hall and the headquarters of the

Woonsocket Police Department, was covered in sheets of protective plywood.

So were a number of businesses that are still reeling from the state-mandated deep-freeze of COVID-19 and had just reopened after weeks on ice. One could almost feel the exasperation in the words of the people struggling to keep them afloat.

“Two days back and this happens,” Beth Menard of Fusion Hair Studio posted on Facebook alongside photos of the shuttered salon at 125 South Main St. “Never did I think I would ever have to board up my business windows and doors because of looting.”

“It really is devastating,” said Lemoine. “They’re just opening back up and all this is going on.”

Unlike Pawtucket – or Cumberland and Central Falls for that matter – Woonsocket did not issue a curfew Tuesday night. But city officials warned residents to hunker down, citing the buzz about looting and vandalism on social media.

In a press release that was issued uncharacteristically late – about 8:30 p.m. – the police department also condemned the death of George Floyd, for which a member of the Minneapolis police department has been fired from his job and charged with murder. And, while the WPD said it supports peaceful protest, it also issued a stern warning of intolerance for lawless, antisocial behavior.

“Although the police support peaceful protest, the Woonsocket Police Department is actively preparing for and will take appropriate action if violent, destructive and lawless behavior erupts,” said the statement, attributed to Public Safety Director Eugene Jalette. “The WPD will not tolerate violent, destructive and lawless behavior, threatening our public safety officials, residents and businesses.”

In the interview on WNRI, Baldelli-Hunt also expressed outrage over the death of Floyd, an African-American man whose accused killer is white.

“What happened to George Floyd was despicable and should have never happened,” she said. “But that does not allow others to capitalize on what happened to this poor man and come into communities across the country and vandalize and loot and destroy and set fire. This is not a message that aligns with what happened to Mr. Floyd.”

Baldelli-Hunt said the city had little choice but to mount an offensive in response to information about possible violence in the city that was gleaned largely from social media.

In addition to reinforcing buildings with plywood and beefing up the patrol shifts, there were state police officers and members of the Rhode Island National Guard on standby. Just as they did in other potential hot spots in the state, like Cranston and Warwick, military helicopters were conducting airborne surveillance for trouble in Woonsocket, Pawtucket and elsewhere in the Blackstone Valley.

“That’s the problem with social media,” Baldelli-Hunt said at one point. “Anything that’s posted needs to be taken seriously and looked at thoroughly to determine whether or not someone is being reasonable and trying to create chaos where there’s none or there’s actually something in the planning stages.”

Just as social media may have amped up the threat, however, so too it might have tamped it down, says Deputy Lemoine.

As quickly as the city and business owners began covering their properties in plywood, images of their actions began spreading online. Lemoine thinks those pictures may have discouraged some potential vandals.

“People saw places were boarded up,” he said. “This wasn’t going to be an easy

place to come and loot.”

Other precautions, including the exrta patrols, paid off for the WPD about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, when they got a call from a man who said he’d just witnessed three others smash the glass partition of the bus stop in front of Bank of America on John A. Cummings Way.

Police accosted the suspected perpetrators as they were walking close to the new Domino’s Pizza building on Social Street, a short distance away. One of them dropped a hunk of cinderblock as the officers approached, according to police reports.

Arrested at gunpoint, the suspects were identified as Joshua Moritz, 24, of 18 Emerson St., and John Jannini, 21, of 201 Rathbun St. A third man was Jonathan Allen, 25, of 59 Evelyn St., Worcester.

All were charged with disorderly conduct and vandalism. Allen, who was in possession of a machete and a hatchet, faces an additional count of weapons other than firearms prohibited.

Going forward, Lemoine says the city remains on high alert.

“The city is prepared,” he said.

As for the plywood coverings, Lemoine said it’s up to private business owners to decide when it’s safe to take them down. However, he recommends leaving them in place until things seem to have settled down, which is what the city intends to do.

“I think you’ll see the buildings will probably remain boarded up until we get through this period,” said Lemoine.

Over in Pawtucket, LeFort doesn’t know when that time will come. But after pandemic and pandemonium, it won’t be soon enough.

“I don’t even know what normal is anymore,” said LeFort. “But we’ve gotta get back to some semblance of peace and civility.”

Ernest A. Brown photos In Woonsocket, The Stadium Theatre Building and nearby offices were all boarded up Wednesday morning as a precaution to reports of targeted looting that might happen, reported on Tuesday. The buildings, including the Beacon Charter High School for the Arts across the street, as well as the Depot Building in Depot Square down the street will remain boarded up for the rest of this week until the looting and rioting threat subsides. Contrary to the scene along Main Street in Woonsocket, Pawtucket city businesses are not boarded up and are open for business as usual, including Still Water Books and other businesses along Main Street Wednesday morning.

Ernest A. Brown photo Visitors to Woonsocket City Hall were surprised to see the building boarded up as well as a Woonsocket police officer stationed outside Wednesday. Buildings in the city have been boarded up since Tuesday after warnings of protests, rioting and looting. A protest march along Main Street shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday drew several dozen participants, including a small child being pushed in a stroller and at least one police officer. Marchers took to the sidewalk closest to City Hall, many chanting ‘Black Lives Matter’ and carrying signs with the names of victims of police brutality and racism written on them, among them George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery. The march came shortly after Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt issued an Executive Order for a daily curfew in the city from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.