The dark past of 'when the looting stars, the shooting starts': How Donald Trump used warning issued by notoriously anti-black Miami police chief during 1968 protests

• President Trump quoted a former Miami police chief known for violent reprisals on black protesters in the 1960s in his controversial tweet
• 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts,' Trump wrote 
• Words echo those used by late Miami police chief Walter Headley 
• Headley said in 1967 that Miami didn't have problems with race riots 'because I've let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts'
• Miami was plagued by civil unrest particularly in 1968 when Republicans were in town for their Republican National Convention 
• 'We don't mind being accused of police brutality,' Headley noted at the time. 'They haven't seen anything yet'

President Donald Trump, in his controversial tweet on the Minneapolis riot that was flagged by Twitter, quoted a former Miami police chief known for violent reprisals on black protesters in the 1960s.

'When the looting starts, the shooting starts,' Trump wrote in a tweet, that the company muzzled - but left online in case people wanted to read it - because they said it 'violated Twitter rules about glorifying violence.'

The words echoed the ones used by late Miami police chief Walter Headley, who issued a 'get tough' policy on black protesters during race riots in the city in the 1960s. 

'We haven't had any serious problems with civil uprising and looting,' Headley said at a December 1967 news conference The New York Times reported at the time, 'because I've let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts.'

'We don't mind being accused of police brutality,' Headley noted. 'They haven't seen anything yet.'

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President Trump quoted a former Miami police chief known for violent reprisals on black protesters in the 1960s in his controversial tweet

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Late Miami police chief Walter Headley said at this December 1967 press conference with the Rev. Theodore Gibson that Miami didn't have problems with race riots 'because I've let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts'

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Headley's words angered black leaders. That and his aggressive policies against blacks have been cited as major factors that contributed to the race riots in the city during the late 1960s, particularly in 1968 when Republicans were in town for their Republican National Convention. 

While Richard Nixon accepted his party's nomination, across the bay from Miami Beach, blacks in Miami's Liberty neighborhood protested working conditions and treatment of blacks. Police intervened and two protesters were killed. 

The president's tweet was in response to protesters in Minneapolis who set fire to a police station there as a part of series of demonstrations throughout the country in support of George Floyd, the African American man who died when a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck.

The president called the demonstrators in Minnesota 'thugs' and threatened to send in the National Guard and get 'the job done right.' 

'....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!,' he wrote. 

Twitter put a warning on the tweet less than three hours later, a move that came after the president designed an executive order seeking to strip social media companies of their legal protections, potentially exposing them to a flood of lawsuits.

Twitter said it muzzled Trump's tweet 'in the interest of preventing others from being inspired to commit violent acts'. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was informed in advance. 

The tweet can no longer be liked or replied to and will not be recommended by Twitter's algorithm, although retweets with comment are still possible - with Trump's message initially hidden. 

It is still possible to override the warning message and view the tweet, under special rules for government officials which protect the public's right to know what their politicians have said.  

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Police with rifles ready stand beside their patrol car near waiting fire engines as black children saunter past in Miami's Liberty City section, scene of renewed racial violence in August 1968

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Miami policemen, one holding the man's arm and the other with an arm lock on his neck, drag away a Negro youth during a clash between police and rioters in that city's predominantly Negro Liberty City district in August 1968

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Protesters hurl chairs during the August 1968 race riots 

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Richard Nixon flashing the v-sign at the Republican National Convention in Miami in 1968

Trump has been criticized in the past for his handling of race relations, particularly in 2017 when he declared there were 'very fine people on both sides' of a series of increasingly violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, initially sparked by a decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from a public park.

The resulting clashes between white supremacists who organized a rally and counter-protesters ended with a woman's death. Neo-Nazi James Fields was sentenced to life in prison in December for running over Heather Heyer with his car.

'You had some very bad people in that group. You also had some very fine people on both sides. ... I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of – to them – a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name,' the president said at the time.

The White House claimed then that Trump's praise was limited to people who showed up in Charlottesville to argue for preserving the Lee statue.