The Miami police said messages warning of antifa planning civil unrest in the city on Election Day were fake.
Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina confirmed to CBS4 on Tuesday that the posts, which claimed that antifa members “are checking in to local hotels in Miami (my building being one of them) to raise hell tomorrow,” were “misinformation.”
“There is quite a bit of anxiety about some misinformation put out and we have businesses boarding up because they are afraid about what can happen,” he explained. “There are some text messages and posts that are circulating, one of which says that Antifa has arrived in Miami for example and that they’re checking in to hotels and you should get supplies. This is fake.”
Colina added, “If you have received that, there is zero credibility to any message you may have received in that form. We checked with other cities and they have been receiving the same messages and what they do is take out the name Miami and put in other names like Chicago or Washington, D.C.”
Antifa, which claims to be anti-fascist, is an often-violent activist group whose masked supporters protest law enforcement and work to promote left-wing policies.
The police chief insisted that business owners who boarded up their storefronts in preparation for election night were doing so unnecessarily.
“There is no need, based on the intelligence that we have, that it is necessary for someone to board up their homes or businesses. Sometimes decisions are made by corporate offices and some do this as a precaution. So if someone felt like they wanted to do this because they can sleep better at night that is okay. They can run their businesses as they see fit. As far as any danger to the public we don’t see that,” Colina stated. “At the same time if you see something that makes you uncomfortable, you should call us and we will address that.”
