Thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets again on Sunday to protest the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of a white agent and also show their outrage at police brutality on Saturday night, when heavy riots occurred in several parts of New York that ended with 350 detainees.
As in the previous three days, the protests began peacefully, with citizens marching through the streets of New York carrying signs that read “Justice for George Floyd” or “The Life of Blacks Matters,” and shouting the “I can’t breathe” that Floyd repeated insistently when the policeman kept him on the ground with a knee around his neck.
However, the outrage against the NYPD herself, who has been criticized for her performance on Saturday after being posted on social media videos showing law enforcement cars, ramming protesters or officers, snouting pepper spray on the faces of citizens with their hands up, was also palpable.
As a result, the phrase “NYPD, Suck my dick” or “Fuck NYPD” was heard with insistence at Sunday’s demonstrations in multiple areas of New York, including Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, or the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn.
The Barclays Center was one of the most numerous, where thousands of people gathered with their fists raised and posters calling for the “abolition of the police” in an area where the destruction of Saturday, with destroyed urban furniture and numerous broken windows, were clearly appreciated.
“The police must change their interaction with the community, period. They feel so excited by the power that a police badge gives them that they forget they are talking to human beings,” said one of the protesters at the Barclays Center.
Meanwhile, in Bryant Park, Manhattan, several thousand people began peaceful protesting with a minute’s silence, followed by repeated “fuck the cops” (fuck the cops) and “no justice, no peace.”
The same messages reflected in the graffiti that have been embodied in a myriad of New York walls, storefronts and columns after Saturday’s intense protests, as well as other messages such as “Riots Speak Louder than Words”.
The iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan, which dawned on its facade, was not even spared.
Throughout Sunday, protests were also held in Queens, Staten Island and the Yonkers, northern Manhattan, as well as other locations outside New York City, such as Rochester, upstate, or Plainville, in the Long Island area.
There was also a police presence in front of Trump Tower in eastern Manhattan, another of the places where rallies took place Saturday, while many of the fifth avenue luxury stores, such as Versace or Cartier, had protected their tents with wooden boards to protect themselves from possible destruction by protesters.
Despite the imposition of curfews in some U.S. cities, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ruled out the possibility on Sunday for the time that measure was made in the state.
“Curfews work well in some cities and in others they create even more problems, so it’s something we’ll look at on a case-by-case basis, depending on the area,” Cuomo said of the marked differences between the metropolis of New York and other rural areas of the state.
