You sure did, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
I cannot believe that the mayor of Baltimore said this yesterday.
Unbelievable.
You think that may encourage people to loot and burn?
The full context in case you were wondering (I was) is:
I’ve made it very clear that I work with police and instructed them to do everything that they could to make sure the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech. It’s a very delicate balancing act. Because while we try and make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on. We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. And we work very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to deescalate.
(And no, it’s not “outside agitators” doing this.)
If you adjust your punctuation her comments aren't that they gave the looters space to destroy, but that, in giving space to the protestors, they also gave space to the looters.
As her words were spoken, the choice of punctuation is something inferred.
I know. I transcribed it. The comma was needed to get her meaning. Listen to it!
Regardless of what she meant, that was now how it was interpreted by those in Balto I spoke to.
Think Commissioner Batts is having flashbacks to the bad old days in Oakland when the Mayor would encourage such idiocy? "Either you’re in government or you’re not in government; either you’re an activist or you’re not." Regardless of whether she meant it that way, that's exactly how SRB looks right now. Something about nature abhorring a vacuum springs to mind. Has she been seen with the cops once since this started?
From the video, it appears she did indeed mean that the city inadvertently provided space for those to destroy through their attempts to provide space for protest. Also from the video, the guy on the left of the screen (one of her own who was likely privy to the content of her speech prior) clearly heard the more inflammatory version. People make mistakes, they misspeak; she just needs to clarify her position, wring her hands, and call for an end to the destruction. It wouldn't hurt if she called on protestors to do their best to police their own… using different language of course.
OK. I see what you're saying.