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Washington Square Park's Arch & Namesake Statues Hit With Red Paint
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Sydney Pereira
Published Jun 29, 2020
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Sara Fishko
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Sydney Pereira
Published Jun 29, 2020
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After the NYPD pepper-sprayed protesters and arrested three individuals during the Queer Liberation March in Greenwich Village on Sunday, the statues of George Washington on the Washington Square Arch were painted red, with an outline of a body scrawled onto the sidewalk nearby.
Red paint was thrown onto both of the north side statues of Washington, the first president of the U.S., who owned enslaved people. It is unclear when the paint was thrown, or if the NYPD had arrested anyone for it, but by Monday morning, the park's landmark had been powerwashed. The red paint splattered onto Washington is among the targeted graffiti against slave owners in American history around the country amid nationwide protests against racist police violence.
Between 4:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. on Sunday, police say they arrested Michael Dunn, 29, of Brooklyn, for graffiti, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, among other charges.
Millen Dang, 20, of Brooklyn and Jacob Kruger, 25, of New Jersey, were arrested for assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, assault, among other charges. Kruger was also accused of having a switchblade knife.
A police source told the Daily News that Dunn scrawled a cop car with marker, spurring the chaos during the protest—arrests, pepper spraying, pushing. The NYPD did not immediately confirm what the graffiti was. Photos posted onto Twitter show a person handcuffed next to an NYPD vehicle with black marker crossing out "NYPD."
The splattered red paint appeared to happen after the clash between police and protesters during the Queer Liberation March, in which tens of thousands marched from Foley Square to Greenwich Village on the weekend of Pride. Demonstrators described a dance party scene before officers' tactics changed.
One video shows an officer shoving a cyclist to the ground as he stood in the street.
Another video shows two people handcuffed and arrested.
Before the clash, Ty, a protester from Williamsburg, said the march "was really joyful and actually really wonderful."
"We were literally dancing and marching. I didn't see anyone tagging—that was not the vibe," Ty said. "Pepper-spraying [people] who aren't even fucking involved in it is also just ridiculous...There was nobody that I saw who was doing anything beyond yelling at cops and surrounding them to keep them from arresting somebody."
About 4:15 p.m., officers and protesters faced each other, as protesters tried to form a barrier to keep each other safe from police, Ty said.
After 10 seconds on the front line, Ty said police pepper-sprayed him in the face from an arms-length away.
Fellow protesters quickly rushed towards him to flush out his eyes with water.
"I felt immensely inspired by the incredible resilience and the refusal to back down of queer people in that moment," he added.
Bushwick resident Caleb was among the group pepper sprayed at Fifth Avenue near the arch.
The cops throughout the march "weren't that visible," Caleb said. "And then all of a sudden, there was this huge line of maybe 15 to 20 cops."
When someone was arrested, protesters chanted "let him go, let him go" around when he was pepper sprayed near the arch at Fifth Avenue.
"I had a group of really great people who crowded around me and flushed my eyes and were fanning me off and giving me water and asking if I [needed] anything," the protester said. "I definitely wasn't expecting pepper spray."
The Reclaim Pride Coalition, which organized Sunday's march on the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall riots, called the NYPD's response "a vast and brutal overreaction."
"Suddenly, a large crowd of NYPD officers rushed in and attacked with pepper spray," the coalition said in a statement. "All that did was increase the crowd yelling at them to 'go home,' while marchers nursed their pepper spray wounds."
Protester Xavier Smith, who kicked-off the march at Foley Square with "Lift Every Voice and Sing," described confusion and chaos as cops descended towards protesters in riot gear. A cop pushed him and kicked his friend's bike, he says.
"It just didn't seem necessary," Smith recalled, piecing together the afternoon. "There must have been a better way to diffuse the situation."
The Manhattan District Attorney's office said the three who were arrested were awaiting arraignment Monday. We'll update as more information becomes available.
[UPDATE] After this story was published, NYPD spokesperson Sergeant Mary Frances O'Donnell issued a statement claiming that the department had made "tremendous strides to improve and redefine our relationship with the LBGTQ communities."
The statement claims that "Officers had just taken a man into custody for vandalizing an NYPD vehicle when a group attempted to overpower the two escorting officers and remove the male from police custody. The officers requested back up to extricate both themselves and the individual arrested. Over the next few minutes, several of our officers who responded to the call for assistance were assaulted and had department property removed from their persons. This conduct is illegal and unacceptable."
O'Donnell added, "We will evaluate yesterday’s response as part of our after action review."
With Alec Hamilton.
Tagged
washington square park
queer liberation march
pride
2020 protests
Sydney Pereira
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