Why did Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake say they gave those who wish to destroy space to do that as well?

Answer 1

Mayor Rawlings-Blake has been struggling to clarify her earlier statement nearly from the moment she uttered it.

"I did not instruct police to give space to protesters who were seeking to create violence or destruction of property," she wrote on her Facebook page the day following the statement. "Taken in context, I explained that, in giving peaceful demonstrators room to share their message, unfortunately, those who were seeking to incite violence also had space to operate."

Clearly, she was speaking about supporting the Constitutional right of free speech, and appears to have been trying to illustrate the difficulty law enforcement faced in trying to balance giving space to peaceful protester's, while at the same time denying it those who would foment riot and unrest.

Answer 2

The "quote" above is misstated. As spoken by Mayor Rawlings-Blake:

"It's a very delicate balancing act because while we try to 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 de-escalate."