Days of Protest
Confrontations in NYC between demonstrators and police officers after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis
| 31 May 2020 | 12:37
Protesters march down the street as trash burns in the background during a solidarity rally for George Floyd, Saturday, May 30, 2020, in New York. Protests were held throughout the city over the death of Floyd, a black man who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (
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New York police officers use pepper spray on protesters during a demonstration Saturday, May 30, 2020 in Brooklyn. Protests were held throughout the city over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. (
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A police officer watches a crowd as a police vehicle burns near Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn after protesters rallied outside Barclays Center over the death of George Floyd, who died Memorial Day while in police custody in Minneapolis, Friday, May 29, 2020. (
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Protesters stand near a burned New York City Police Department van in Brooklyn, Friday, May 29, 2020. Demonstrators took to New York City streets on Friday for a second day to protest the death of George Floyd, the black Minnesota man killed in Minneapolis police custody. (
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Updated Monday June 1, 2020
New York City officials were looking for a peaceful way forward as the city entered another day of protests against police brutality that have left police cars burned and led to the arrest of hundreds of people.
On Monday afternoon, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a curfew for the city, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
On Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said city police showed “tremendous restraint overall” during the weekend’s protests, but promised an investigation of video showing two police cruisers lurching into a crowd of demonstrators on a Brooklyn street. He was appointing two city officials to conduct an independent review of how the protests unfolded and how they were handled by the police.
“We all better get back to the humanity here,’’ de Blasio said at a Sunday morning briefing. “The protesters are human beings. They need to be treated with tremendous respect. The police officers are human beings. They need to be treated with tremendous respect.’’
Hours after he spoke, demonstrations resumed. Hundreds of people gathered on a plaza in downtown Brooklyn, chanting “No justice, no peace,” and “Black lives matter,’’ while making occasional insulting hand gestures at a line of police officers protecting the arena where the NBA’s Nets play. Marchers chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot’’ - a rallying cry that originated from the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri - during a separate rally in Queens.
Largely peaceful protests around the city Saturday gave way to scattered clashes between police and protesters later in the evening. Demonstrators smashed shop windows, threw objects at officers, set police vehicles on fire and blocked roads. Graffiti was scrawled on Manhattan’s famed St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
There were multiple complaints about police unnecessarily shoving or bludgeoning protesters and spraying crowds with chemicals.
Some Demonstrations “Hijacked”
New York City police said 345 people were arrested, 33 officers were injured and 27 police vehicles were damaged or destroyed by fire. There were no major injuries reported. Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said some peaceful demonstrations were “hijacked’’ by people with violent intent.
“We’re going to make sure that everyone has the right to peacefully protest and assemble,’’ Shea said said at a briefing with the mayor. “But we are not going to tolerate destruction of property, having our officers put into harm’s way or any civilians put into harm’s way.”
Similar protests flared around the nation in response to the Minnesota death of George Floyd. Floyd, who was black, died Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing. Elsewhere in New York, shop windows were shattered in Rochester and demonstrators set fire to a tractor trailer in Albany. In Buffalo, a person threw a flaming object though a city hall window.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the National Guard is on standby and that hundreds of additional troopers are being made available in Buffalo and Rochester, where hundreds of people showed Sunday to help clean up the damage.
“We expect additional protests tonight and we’re preparing for such,’’ Cuomo said at his daily briefing.
The governor also said state Attorney General Letitia James’s investigation into actions by NYPD officers and protesters will include any protests held throughout the weekend.
Broken Glass
Cleanup was under way Sunday morning in New York City, which is still under a lockdown enacted two months ago when it became the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
At least five burned-out NYPD vehicles that remained near Manhattan’s Union Square were towed early Sunday afternoon. People walked around broken glass on the street to take pictures of the vehicles.
A handful of protesters rallied peacefully in the square, holding Black Lives Matter signs and giving speeches denouncing police violence while families were picnicking nearby.
“Compared to how things turned out yesterday, this is a lot better. This is exactly how things should be,’’ said Domenic Manning, who spoke Sunday at Union Square. ``If you want to get your point across, this is the way to do it. Vandalizing companies and stores, that’s not the way to do it.’’
Ken Kidd, who lives a few blocks south of the park, was among the people inspecting the damage to the vehicles and had witnessed Saturday’s demonstrations. He said protesters and police tried to remain peaceful at the start before the stress of a city heavily hit by the coronavirus came out.
“I think a community can only say ‘Enough’ so many times and the words aren’t heard so then they got to take action and that’s what happened last night. That’s what I watched happen last night,’’ Kidd said.
The independent review ordered by de Blasio will be conducted by New York City Corporation Counsel James Johnson, who is the city’s chief lawyer, and Margaret Garnett, commissioner of the Department of Investigation, which typically investigates suspected wrongdoing and fraud by city employees.