LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Days later, signs of Wednesday’s anti-ICE protest in downtown Las Vegas remain. Metro tells FOX5 vandalism like that is just one of the reasons command declared the demonstration an illegal assembly and shut it down.
With an even larger protest planned for Saturday, some businesses, private properties, and apartments are getting proactive, which means calling the pros.
Friday morning, you could hear the sound of workers shuttering storefronts in downtown Las Vegas. The owners of these businesses and their neighbors hope they won’t be necessary.
Still…
“Since this is supposed to be a much larger rally, we don’t know if agitators are going to change that and turn a different way, so I think it’s better to be prepared than to have to react to a lot more of the damage from unwanted activity.”
Jonathan Alvarez is the Chief of Security and CEO for Protective Forces International. Alvarez plans to have between 30 and 40 officers on patrol in anticipation of Saturday’s “No Kings” rally. He tells us, they’re not there to replace Metro.
“We’re going to let law enforcement do what they do best, handle the incidents themselves, but our responsibility is private property, the businesses and the residents that live within it.”
Private security was in place on Wednesday, and Alvarez tells us his officers did prevent property damage.
“We deployed as many resources as we could, and it was very successful in the way that we were able to handle any unwanted activity from agitators.”
Now they’re prepared to do it again on Saturday.
“We’re not cops, and we’re not trying to be, but we are hired to protect the assets of business owners, here downtown, so they can maintain our economy downtown,” he tells us.
“Again, we encourage everyone to come and voice their First Amendment rights, but it’s not okay to destroy businesses, to destroy residences, communities where people live, that’s not what this is about.”
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