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De Blasio Asks Protesters To Give It A Rest
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 22, 2014
Modified Dec 23, 2014
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 22, 2014
Modified Dec 23, 2014
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Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging the activists who've been flooding the streets to protest police brutality to pause their demonstrations. "I think it's important that regardless of people's viewpoints, that everyone recognize it's a time to step back and just focus on these families [of the slain officers]," de Blasio said. "I think it's a time for everybody to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things we will talk about in due time."
Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were fatally shot in their squad car in broad daylight Saturday, "stood for all that is good in our society," de Blasio said today. "We have to understand, an attack on them is an attack on all of us. It was an attack on our democracy, it was an attack on our values, it was an attack on every single New Yorker."
De Blasio asked that protests be set aside until after the officers' funerals. "That should be our only concern," de Blasio said. "Politics and protest can be for another day. Then debate can begin again. But until that time it is our obligation to respect them."
There is still no indication that the officers' killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, was politically active or had participated in the recent wave of demonstrations. In the wake of Saturday's fatal shooting, organizers of the Millions March issued this statement:
"On behalf of the Millions March NYC, we express our deepest condolences to the families of the officers who were killed on Saturday. Our march last weekend was a peaceful outcry that senseless violence in our society is harmful to trust, community, and security. This tragedy is in no way connected to our march, or ongoing protests against police brutality, discrimination, and profiling--and we condemn, and are disappointed with any entity that would try to imply such connection. As New Yorkers, we will continue to march for a peaceful society, where trust between communities and law enforcement is finally achieved."
De Blasio's remarks were made hours after NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton drew a connection between Brinsley's actions and the political demonstrations that have occurred in NYC following a grand jury's decision not to indict an NYPD officer for the death of an unarmed Staten Island man in June. "It is quite apparent, quite obvious, that the targeting of these two police officers was a direct spinoff of this issue of these demonstrations," Bratton said on the Today Show this morning.
Aside from a scuffle with police on the Brooklyn Bridge last week, protesters have by and large eschewed violence and vandalism. But on one occasion from earlier this month that was captured on video, protesters can be heard chanting that they wanted "dead cops now."
De Blasio and Bratton will take questions from reporters at a press conference at One Police Plaza this afternoon.
Tagged
bill de blasio
ismaaiyl brinsley
nypd
police shooting
protest
rafael ramos
wenjian liu
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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