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De Blasio Ends Curfew One Day Early As NYC Prepares To Reopen
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Jun 7, 2020
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Scott Lynch / Gothamist
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By
Sydney Pereira
Published Jun 7, 2020
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Mayor Bill de Blasio has lifted the 8 p.m. curfew in NYC one night earlier than planned, following a night of demonstrations that saw peaceful protesters marching long into the evening without the same degree of violent NYPD response that occurred on previous nights.
"New York City: We are lifting the curfew, effective immediately," the mayor tweeted. "Yesterday and last night we saw the very best of our city."
"Tomorrow we take the first big step to restart. Keep staying safe. Keep looking out for each other," de Blasio said.
About 80 people were arrested during Saturday's protests, according to the NYPD. The department did not provide a breakdown of charges or locations of the arrests.
The curfew, which began on June 1st and was in effect until 5 a.m. daily, was previously scheduled to be lifted Monday morning, when NYC begins the first phase of reopening after closing down nonessential work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
In response to the early ending of the curfew, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson wrote on Twitter, "Finally," and called on the mayor to support the City Council's slate of police reform bills and reducing the NYPD's budget.
Saturday night's protests—the 10th night in a row of citywide protests against police brutality in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis—were largely peaceful compared to previous nights. But there were some instances of aggression towards protesters from other apparent non-protesters, including a driver who ran into a group of cyclists protesting in Brooklyn on the sidewalk purposefully and someone in a skyscraper who threw ice at about a dozen protesters and a group of Daily News journalists.
Though intended to stop looting and property damage seen across much of Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, the curfew was criticized as a way for police to indiscriminately make arrests as night fell.
There were numerous reports of unprovoked police brutality over the course of the week, with NYPD officers hitting people with batons, police driving into a group of protesters, and accounts from arrested protesters of horrible treatment during detainment. Essential workers were arrested or threatened after curfew, including delivery workers, legal observers, journalists, and medical workers. In the Bronx, a janitor working at a Human Resources Administration building was leaving work when he was detained with other protesters Thursday night.
Councilmember Brad Lander called the curfew "stupid" in an interview with Gothamist Friday night after a standoff between protesters and police that ended with most dispersing, except for a group of several dozen who continued protesting who were met with aggressive arrests in Crown Heights about 10:30 p.m. Another group was taken into custody on the Upper East Side shortly after 8 p.m.
"I want the curfew never to have been implemented," Lander said about 10 p.m. Friday. "The longer the curfew is on, [we're gonna have] more aggressive policing, violence and arrests for nothing more than peaceful protest."
This week's curfew was the first since 1944, when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia implemented a curfew in Harlem after an uprising in the neighborhood when a white police officer shot a black U.S. Army soldier, Robert Bandy, who later recovered. Five people were killed during those protests.
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George Floyd
mayor bill de blasio
2020 protests
curfew
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Sydney Pereira
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