Organizers at tonight’s St. Pete Peace Protest spent the first 10-15 minutes before the march talking about an incident last night where a motorcycle rode into the center of the march and then was surrounded by protesters.

“It’s a shame, it’s a shame, it’s a shame,” Terron Gland said. “I take blame, we all take blame.” Gland told the crowd in the future to walk away. De-escalation is the goal.

Will Breeze tells the crowd that he usually follows Malcom X’s philosophy of “by any means necessary” but “at the end of the day we’re not about bitterness, we have to be about doing the right thing.”

Ashley Green talks about the history of peaceful protests. “The Freedom Fighters actually practiced, practiced and prepared, for moments like this... We have to start to learn to be in the practice of using strategic non-violence.”

Operations leader Ian Tuma meets with the bike crew beforehand to brief them on the route and de-escalation. “The main goal is if there is an instigator, we want to keep protesters moving... there should really only be one person taking to the instigator.”