Sponsors were the Vote Power League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and numerous smaller organizations.
[3]: 202 After a white reporter was forcibly ejected from the "Blacks Only" rally, Miami police responded with five cars and a carbine unit, which exacerbated tensions.
[3]: 205 Florida governor Claude Kirk and SCLC president Ralph Abernathy, both attending the Republican National Convention, and Metro-Dade County mayor Chuck Hall arrived and held a meeting with community spokesmen.
Miami officials requested assistance from the Florida Highway Patrol, which used a cloud of tear gas dispensed by a modified version of an insect-control machine to restore order.
That afternoon Miami police, responding to what they thought was sniper fire, killed two residents and left a fourteen-year-old boy with a bullet through his chest.