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As Night Falls, NYC Protests Against Police Violence Grow Chaotic

  • By Sydney Pereira, Gwynne Hogan and Jake Offenhartz, The Gothamist.

Above photo: Marchers face off against police on Canal Street Gwynne Hogan / WNYC.

10:50 p.m.: As night fell in New York City, chaos and violent encounters fanned out once again between police and demonstrators.

In Lower Manhattan, a dumpster was set on fire, forcing police officers to cordon off protesters. On some streets, there were bashed-in store windows even though some protesters had pleaded with others not to engage in looting.

Around 10: 30 p.m., NYPD began making significant arrests at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. At one point, police could be seen racing after protesters. Some observers were maced at close range.

There were at least half a dozen people arrested. In one video from PIX11 News, an officer can be seen shoving a protester down a set of stairs after another threw her to the ground.

Another video posted by a Daily News reporter showed police using batons. The reporter tweeted that he was hit while filming.

An NYPD spokesperson said a “couple dozen” arrests had been made around the city on Sunday during the protests, but the numbers were fluid. The spokesperson said arrests at Barclays began after someone tried busting into an Apple Store about 11 p.m.

At 12th Street and University Place, there was a construction dumpster fire.

NYPD blocked protesters from continuing north after the fire broke out a few blocks south. “You’ve been ordered to dispersed,” a message from the police department blared over a speaker.

Some protesters tried to keep others from busting into stores along Broadway; a group held up their arms outside of a store Hat Club, saying “keep walking, keep walking.” At a Duane Reade nearby, other protesters tried to do the same. Glass had been smashed in at a CVS Pharmacy on 14th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, though it was not immediately clear if looting had occurred or if the damage was just at the entrance.

Officers held a standoff with protesters, batons in hand, pushing protesters as the crowd moved along a roadway in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, past 11 o’clock along Lafayette Street, there were trash fires on every corner, with people smashing windows and no police in sight.

Additional reporting contributed by Nick Pinto.

NYC Mayor’s Daughter Held In Custody Overnight For Protesting

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter was held in police custody overnight for protesting in Manhattan on Saturday, a police source confirmed to Gothamist on Sunday.

Chiara de Blasio, 25, was arrested at 12th Street and Broadway about 10:30 p.m. for “unlawful assembly” and released on a desk appearance ticket about 8:15 a.m. the next day, the police source said. The New York Post first reported her arrest.

She was protesting in a crowd of some 100 people in the roadway, and some of the people in the crowd were throwing objects at officers, the police source said. The activists were told to leave the street, but when they didn’t, they were arrested.

Her arrest was among 345 people taken into custody during Saturday’s demonstrations.

An hour after officers handcuffed de Blasio, her father told protesters to “go home” at a last minute press conference at the NYC Emergency Management Headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn.

“If you went out peacefully to make a point about the need for change, you have been heard and change is coming in the city. I have no doubt about that. It’s time to go home so we can all move forward,” the mayor said Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, he announced Corporation Counsel Jim Johnson and Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett would conduct their own investigation into police conduct at the protests.

Thousands Of NYC Protesters Shut Down Lanes On Manhattan And Brooklyn Bridges

9:20 p.m.: Thousands of protesters shut down the Manhattan Bridge Sunday night in citywide demonstrations against police violence. More activists marched onto the Brooklyn Bridge, shutting down Brooklyn-bound lanes as well.

The widespread protests, which began around noon on Sunday, were the fourth day of actions in New York City after the latest police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis spurred nationwide outrage.

“We need justice. This isn’t right,” 26-year-old Kattiana Hailae said in tears, pleading with NYPD officers along Flatbush Avenue near the Barclays Center on Sunday afternoon. “As a black woman, I’m afraid. I’m just afraid to have black kids. I’m afraid of what will happen to my nephew, to my dad, to my mom, as black people, we have built America to the country that it is today. And we deserve respect.”

Earlier in the evening, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams spoke to a crowd of thousands in front of Barclays: “Just because there’s people protesting, you do not have the right to mace people indiscriminately.”

“The issue I have is when people say, ‘We’re trying to keep these communities safe. Well, alright, where were you when NYCHA people had rats and roaches?”

“Where were you when they had no place to live?” Williams said, to cheers and activists screaming, “We’re tried of being quiet,” “This shit is traumatizing.”

At Foley Square in Manhattan, protesters chanted at NYPD to “take a knee,” and four officers eventually kneeled with activists—mirroring a moment in Queens where a handful of officers kneeled with protesters during a name reading of black people killed.

In Manhattan later that day, one officer, Chief Robert Cattani, was overheard saying, “Like anything on social media it’s going to make or break us.”

Protests remained peaceful early in the evening—though in Flatbush, thousands chanted “shame on you” in response to NYPD arresting a man.

Similar to prior protests, there were tense moments as demonstrators confronted police officers. Police and protesters held a standoff on Canal Street after dark on Sunday, with police in helmets carrying shields. Activists chanted “who do you protect” as the two sides lined up facing one another in Chinatown.

Crown Heights resident Omar Yusuf, 40, said the “energy was phenomenal” in Brooklyn at protests, which he joined two days after he says an officer pointed a gun at him during a different demonstration.

“A few days ago I had a gun stuck to my face by a cop [on] Bedford Avenue,” Yusuf said. “It’s the time now to put systematic racism and tyranny to an end. We’re all the same. We’re all people.”

Additional reporting contributed by Scott Heins and Nick Pinto.

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