Raimondo: Tactics of Providence rioters ‘eerily similar’ to those used elsewhere

PROVIDENCE — Gov. Gina Raimondo said Wednesday that the tactics used by rioters early Tuesday morning were “eerily similar to the tactics being used all across the country” and that the state police were working in concert with federal authorities to determine “who was behind it.”

Raimondo has said repeatedly that the uprising outside the Providence Place mall was a coordinated attack, though the vast majority of the 65 people arrested were Rhode Islanders.

Asked again Wednesday during her daily news conference on the coronavirus if she believed the riot was organized by outside agitators, Raimondo said, “Here is what we also know: the tactics that were used here are eerily similar to the tactics being used all across the country. So it would suggest these are not just a bunch of angry kids in Rhode Island who are deciding to engage in this rioting.”

The shared tactics the governor alluded to were the bricks, crowbars and containers of gasoline that the agitators used to incite violence, her office explained afterward.

Raimondo said about 120 cities in 26 states had experienced protests or riots in the wake of the May 25 killing of a black man, George Floyd, while being restrained by four Minneapolis police officers.

Raimondo said, “This is an active investigation and we’re still trying to figure out who was behind it, where did it come from. And we are trying to figure it out in concert with federal authorities, with all of the intelligence gathering they can do.”