Carmichael, the militant civil and political rights activist who had parted with King in 1966 and had been removed as head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1967, led members of the SNCC to stores in the neighborhood demanding that they close out of respect. Although polite at first, the crowd fell out of control and began breaking windows. Carmichael, who supported the riots, told rioters to "go home and get your guns." The disturbances began when a window was broken at the People's Drug Store at the intersection of 14th and U Streets, NW. An hour and half later, by 11 pm, window-smashing and looting spread throughout the area. Looting occurred generally where there was little police protection. The local police department could not handle the disturbance, as one officer said, "This situation is out of control, we need help it's too much for us to handle." The civil disturbance unit was later activated, but by the time order was restored around 3 am, 200 stores had their windows broken and 150 stores were looted, most of them emptied. Black store owners wrote "Soul Brother" on their storefronts so that rioters would spare their stores. The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department reported 1,180 fires between March 30 and April 14, 1968, as arsonists set buildings ablaze. Carmichael speeches The next morning, Mayor-Commissioner Walter Washington ordered the damage cleaned up immediately. However, at 10 am, anger and discontent was still evident, and was exacerbated when Carmichael addressed a rally, saying "white America has declared war on black America", there is "no alternative to retribution" and "Black people have to survive, and the only way they will survive is by getting guns". "White America killed Dr. King last night. She made a whole lot easier for a whole lot of black people today. There no longer needs to be intellectual discussions, black people know that they have to get guns. White America will live to cry that she killed Dr. King last night. It would have been better if she had killed Rap Brown and/or Stokely Carmichael, but when she killed Dr. King, she lost." "I think white America made its biggest mistake when they killed Dr. King last night... He was the one man in our race who was trying to preach mercy and forgiveness for what the white man has done." He said "Execution