"They Defend Their Own Side": NYPD Accused Of Protecting Violent Blue Lives Matter Marchers In Bay Ridge

Jake Offenhartz

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Gwynne Hogan

Published Jul 13, 2020

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A pro-police rally in Bay Ridge resulted in altercations with counterprotesters and police

Stephanie Keith / Gothamist

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Jake Offenhartz

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Gwynne Hogan

Published Jul 13, 2020

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Pro-cop demonstrators and NYPD officers brawled with counter-protesters in Bay Ridge on Sunday, marking the second straight day of violence in South Brooklyn largely provoked by those opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement.

As the two opposing marches converged on 4th Avenue near the 68th Precinct, NYPD officers stood between the groups, each side hurling eggs and insults at the other. Several members of the pro-police contingent also shouted racist and homophobic slurs at the counter-protesters, leading to sporadic fistfights throughout the afternoon and evening.

But despite numerous assaults committed by the pro-cop group in clear view of officers, just two people were arrested — both of them Black men protesting police brutality — according to an NYPD spokesperson.

During one skirmish, a man on the Blue Lives Matter side punched a woman in the face, causing her to briefly lose consciousness, she said. According to witnesses, the man's family members had attacked protesters, ripping their signs and calling a Black man the n-word.

"I was jumped today by two white men while their mother called me the n-word. Did they get arrested? No. They got a police escort," said Tameer Peak, a 24-year-old activist who previously worked as a mail carrier. "But they got their ass beat before being escorted away, so that’s a win for me."

NYPD officers initially refused to arrest the man, even as several officers witnessed the attack, including a lieutenant who saw video of the incident immediately afterward. When angry protesters surrounded the man and began throwing punches, officers eventually stepped in, forming a circle around the assailant and guiding him into a police van. Protesters noted that he was not wearing handcuffs.

There was no record of an arrest made at that location, an NYPD spokesperson told Gothamist on Monday morning.

Police identified the two people arrested at the protest as Joseph Brown and Robert Bolden. Video shows police throwing Bolden to the ground and shooting him with a Taser.

Police claimed Bolden threw a helmet at cops and tried to stop an arrest — neither of which can be seen on video. [Update: On Monday afternoon, the NYPD shared a video with reporters showing a protester who appears to be Bolden throwing his helmet into a crowd]. He was charged with assault, reckless endangerment, obstructing governmental obstruction and disorderly conduct.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday that the incident was under investigation. "I saw the video in Bay Ridge," he said. "I did not like what I saw at all."

Brown, an activist with StreetRidersNYC, was caught "throwing an egg at an officer that struck him in the right ear, causing a laceration," according to an NYPD spokesperson. He was allegedly seen dropping a knife, and charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon, tampering with physical evidence, resisting arrest, menacing, obstructing governmental administration and harassment.

Black Lives Matter protesters said NYPD officers prioritized protecting the largely white pro-police crowd, giving that group license to attack protesters without fear of consequences. But unlike Saturday's confrontation in Dyker Heights, the pro-police rally was significantly outnumbered by the roughly 200 counter-protesters.

"Throughout both these protests, cops face us and they defend their own side," said Abdullah Younus, a lifelong Bay Ridge resident. "At no point do they turn around and look at the other side that's inciting all this violence. We see it over and over, and they wonder why the fuck we think they're racist."

Younus, the political director a New York Immigration Coalition and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said he was punched by an older Bay Ridge resident, who assaulted multiple protesters in full view of police, but was not apprehended.

In another incident, a man wearing a pair of grey Champion sweatpants struck a Black Lives Matter protester in the face, then retreated behind a line of demonstrators on his side.

Those on the pro-police side said they'd turned out to show their appreciate for law enforcement — and to confront a Black Lives Matter movement they alternately described as "terrorists" and George Soros-paid agitators.

"They have no idea what the world is all about," said Louis Demarco, a 71-year-old retired NYPD cop. "If they don’t like this country, what America stands for — the patriots, the police department, the flag...go some place else. You don’t have to stay here. Nobody’s asking anybody to stay here."

"I can see what they mean by the Black Lives Matter, obviously, we all understand that," said Bob, a 56-year-old Bensonhurst resident on the pro-police side, who declined to give his last name. "But that was last month, now how about let's start fresh. Let’s start from scratch: how 'bout All Lives Matter now.”

The Blue Lives Matter rally largely dispersed by 9 p.m. Shortly after, the Black Lives Matter activists were chased away by police in riot gear who threatened to arrest anyone in the street.

As demonstrators fled toward Fifth Avenue, some threw trash cans into the commercial street, setting at least one on fire. A scuffle broke out between protesters and a group of men outside the the Leif Bar, one of whom shouted a homophobic slur at the protesters. He was then splashed with water and struck in the head with a construction helmet by someone in the crowd. A second man charged into the crowd, attacking a different protester, and was subsequently beaten by a number of protesters until others on the Black Lives Matter side stepped in to protect him.

The men eventually retreated, and the protesters continued marching down Fifth Avenue, prompting cheers from a handful of immigrant bodega owners and disdainful glares from some outdoor diners.

"We can unequivocally say that the counter-protestors from Bay Ridge won this evening," said Younus. "It was a victory for the antiracist movement that the people of Southern Brooklyn have been building over the last four years."

"We drove the racists out."

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