Thousands march in NEW YORK again as curfew ends
09 June, 2020
Thousands of folks marched through NY City’s streets again Sunday to protest racism and police brutality, but after a calm weekend metropolis appeared ready to begin a march back toward normalcy after 90 days of quarantines and practically fourteen days of civil unrest.
Mayor Bill de Blasio lifted the city’s 8 p.m. curfew before schedule after several days free of the clashes or ransacking of stores that rocked metropolis days earlier.
A few of the marches Sunday took on a celebratory feel and tensions between demonstrators and police were noticeably eased.
As hundreds of protesters stood chanting in front of cops outside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center as night fell, officers looked on, standing relaxed and without riot helmets which were standard-issue earlier in the week.
Some officers a few blocks away were even smoking cigars. Others posed for photos with vest-wearing bikers. At one point, police moved barricades so protesters could approach the Trump International Hotel and Tower in midtown Manhattan.
“I would like to thank every person who has expressed their views peacefully,” de Blasio said Sunday morning. “I made a decision to get rid of the curfew. And honestly, I hope it’s the last time we will ever desire a curfew in New York City.”
The curfew, New York’s first in decades, had been set to remain in effect through early Monday morning, with officials likely to lift it at the same time the city enters the first phase of reopening after almost 90 days of shutdowns as a result of the coronavirus.
The proceed to end it early followed NEW YORK police pulling back on enforcing the curfew Saturday as thousands took to the streets for a later date of marches and rallies sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Catherine Corien, a 60-year-old dental hygienist in Brooklyn, held off attending protests all week because she was afraid of catching the virus, but she stood close to the back of a protest in Bed-Stuy on Sunday wearing a mask and keeping some distance from other protesters.
“I’m very concerned, but concurrently, lots of people, if they're like me and decided to stay home, nothing could have happened,” she said.
Brandon Watts, a black pastor at Epiphany Church in Brooklyn, mandated that participants wear a mask at a “Pray & Protest” march he organized Sunday with several other churches. Attendees were offered free coronavirus testing at among the participating churches.
“COVID-19 hit the inner city harder than anybody else,” Watts said. “Therefore we have to be careful. We’re the only ones in a pandemic within a pandemic.”
De Blasio said police had arrested just four persons and issued 24 court summonses during Saturday’s protest. There were a lot more than 2,000 arrests made through Friday morning, with the most significant number coming on Sunday and Monday, when hundreds were arrested as the authorities tried to control crime in Manhattan’s shopping districts.
Local politicians and civil liberties advocates had needed a finish to the 8 p.m. curfew, complaining that it causes needless friction when officers make an effort to enforce it. But de Blasio had initially insisted the curfew would stay in place through the entire weekend.
Civil liberties organizations had threatened to sue if the curfew was extended beyond Sunday.
The end of the curfew comes as NEW YORK prepares to begin reopening some businesses Monday, including manufacturing and construction companies, wholesalers and retailers.
Between 200,000 and 400,000 persons are expected to return to the workplace Monday in the city.
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo reiterated his call for people who've attended the protest marches to get tested for the coronavirus.
”Get a test. Get yourself a test,” the governor said Sunday, adding that the state planned on opening 15 testing sites dedicated just to protesters to allow them to get results quickly. “I'd act as if you were exposed, and I would tell persons you are interacting with, assume I am positive for the virus.”
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