NYC under curfew following weekend of unrest
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Demonstrators take a knee outside the 115th Precinct station house during a protest against racist police violence. Eagle photo by Rachel Vick
By David Brand
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have imposed an 11 p.m. curfew on New York City residents after a weekend of civil unrest resulted in violence by some NYPD officers and demonstrators.
Cuomo announced the curfew during an appearance on the Upstate New York radio station WAMC Monday afternoon. De Blasio confirmed the curfew in a tweet at 3:58 p.m., hours after he declined to impose a curfew when asked by a reporter during a daily press conference
“For everyone’s safety we have decided to implement a citywide curfew in New York City tonight. It will take effect at 11pm and be lifted at 5am tomorrow morning,” de Blasio tweeted.
The drastic measures come after four days of escalating demonstrations, during which NYPD officers responded with aggressive violence — driving police vehicles into crowds, macing, shoving and hitting peaceful protestors with batons and even waving a pistol at a crowd. Some demonstrators also engaged in violence and property destruction, throwing objects at cops, breaking windows and torching NYPD vehicles.
Some elected officials were surprised to learn of the curfew, finding out through media reports and Twitter.
“It’s amazing when as an elected you find out that your neighborhood is going on lockdown because of Twitter,” Queens Assemblymember Catalina Cruz tweeted. “Not because the a Mayor or the Gov’s teams give you a heads up... and it’s even better when you ask and they blame each other for the decision.”
The demonstrations were set off by the police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A cell phone video shows an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 minutes as Floyd begs for him to get off.
“I can’t breathe,” Floyd told the officer, invoking the final words of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man killed by a Staten Island cop who administered an illegal chokehold in 2014.
