The mayor of CHELELLE L. Parker warned that during the Saturday planned protest in Philadelphia against the policy of President Donald Trump, the “order of the day” for the city police would be “maintaining peace”.
“Philadelphia is ready for this weekend,” said Parker on Thursday at the City Hall press conference. “We respect the rights of the first amendment to protest and freedom of speech … But we want to be equally clear: the Department of Police in Philadelphia will maintain public security and order on our streets and our districts, because it is their mission.”
Parker is a moderate democrat, who was running on a difficult crime platform during the mayor’s race in 2023, and its comments indicate that the city will undertake an assertive approach to illegal activity, which appears on Saturday, on Saturday, when composed protests in Washington are planned.
The rally will take place a few days after a physical confrontation during a protest in the city center against American immigration and customs enforcement, in which two police officers were injured and 15 demonstrators were arrested.
Ever since Trump deployed the federal army of the National Guard of California to confront anti-Anti-Ani-Ana protests in the Los Angeles-local officials have claimed that escalated tensions-city and state corders and state in the whole country forced themselves whether the protests in their jurisdiction would be another public point.
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During the protests in 2020, after the police murder in Minneapolis George Floyd, Philadelphia was criticized for unprepared for the first wave of protests, and then with unnecessary strength in the following days.
In Philadelphia, demonstrations these tens of thousands of people gather calmly to condemn the brutality of the police, but they also see protesters igniting cars on fire, and the opportunists were plundered by shops at Center City, West Philadelphia and Kensington. At that time, the mayor, Jim Kenney, was the antagonist of vocal Trump and more adapted to the progressive movement of the city than Parker.
It is unlikely that the police will be caught flat feet on Saturday.
“We want people to come here safely and exercise their rights to the first amendment,” said Parker, “But we want them and we ask them to do it responsibly.”
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Parker added that the city cooperated with federal law enforcement agencies, preparing for Saturday.
“We closely coordinate with our public security partners and law enforcement agencies at every level of government,” she said. “This is local, i.e. state and federal, and this is what we did at the Eagle Parade. This is what we did when we had the northeast [Philadelphia] Aircraft failure. This is a standard operational procedure. “
District prosecutor Larry Krasner, who is close to the progressive movement, said on Thursday that the protesters who would break the law would have to meet the consequences.
“If you are trying to take advantage of the situation, you will get what you get,” he said.
But he also emphasized that the protesters would be protected.
“If you do what Martin Luther King would do, everything will be fine,” he said. “This is the law, this is a constitution, and these are the traditions of this country. It will be good. I will make sure everything will be fine.”
The writer of employees of Ximena Conde contributed to this article.
