SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Sioux Falls activist Vaney Hariri said he was disappointed with the violence in Sioux Falls Sunday night, but commended the peaceful protest that preceded it.
Speaking on KELO Radio’s It’s Your Agri-Business on Monday, Hariri said a small group of people was behind the escalation.
“It only takes one person to do something foolish, to start something foolish. And that’s really hard to manage no matter who you are,” Hariri said.
Over a thousand demonstrators congregated in Van Eps park on Sunday evening before marching into the city. As night fell and the crowd started to dwindle, things turned more violent. Protesters and police clashed outside the Empire Mall. Some protesters threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas.
Hariri said he understood the anger the demonstraters felt but urged them to channel it in a more constructive way.
“The problem is, often times when someone is angry we want them to be calm. We want them to subdue those feelings; we want those emotions to go away, versus repurposing those emotions into passion, into action, into doing things that will actually make changes in their community,” he said.
