SC Gov. McMaster says he ‘welcomes’ George Floyd protests, not violence
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster told reporters Thursday that he welcomes the protests across the state calling for transparent police accountability and ending the deaths of black men and women in the custody of law enforcement.
But not violence, the governor added.
“We welcome protests. We welcome information. We learn from protesters,” McMaster said on Thursday after a press conference to brief South Carolinians on the state’s hurricane preparation. “Peaceful protests are part of what makes us smarter and makes us a great country. But violence is something entirely different.”
In South Carolina, protests entered their sixth day in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis, who died last month after a police officer knelt on his neck for longer than eight minutes, causing him to stop breathing.
The officer and three others have since been charged in Floyd’s death.
McMaster drew heat from some protesters this week, after a leaked audio recording between President Donald Trump and governors was published, where McMaster can be heard saying that some of the people who damaged police cars and businesses on Saturday in Columbia’s Vista dining and shopping area might have been paid.
Lawrence Nathaniel, an organizer of Columbia’s “I Can’t Breathe” protest events, called on the governor to apologize.
Nathaniel plans to lead a protest to the Governor’s Mansion on Friday.
“Sorry but @henrymcmaster we are coming to you this weekend!” Nathaniel tweeted on Thursday. “We are not paid, we are fighting to get paid equally, and you owe us a apology!”
McMaster said Thursday that there’s no excuse for the death of George Floyd.
And there’s no excuse, he said, for the “rioters infiltrating” the otherwise peaceful protests, either.
“I can assure you, that just as we welcome protesters to our lovely state — and we welcome that; there’s nothing wrong with that,” McMaster said. “But we do not welcome violence. That is criminal activity. There are laws against it and they will be enforced in South Carolina.”
