COURIER L 4 IFE, JUNE 5-11, 2020
Police attempt to push back protesters outside Barclays Center.
Photo by Todd Maisel
Quality Cancer Care: Recognizing Excellence
ROSE ADAMS, BEN VERDE &
KEVIN DUGGAN
Thousands of protestors
have taken to the city’s streets
over the previous week to decry
acts of racism and police brutality
— leading Mayor Bill de
Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo
to implement a citywide curfew
as the demonstrations have become
disorderly and violent.
The protests — which mirror
similar demonstrations
across the country — began in
response to the death of 46-yearold
George Floyd at the hands
of a Minneapolis police offi cer,
and have since evolved into a
showing of solidarity for the
Black Lives Matter movement
and people of color around the
country.
The fi rst night of demonstrations
in Brooklyn came on May
29 at Barclays Center, when
over three thousand protesters
gathered outside the Atlantic
Avenue arena — despite a coronavirus
related stay-at-home
order — to decry Floyd’s death.
The offi cer responsabile for
Foyd’s death, Derek Chauvin,
was arrested and charged with
murder and manslaughter earlier
in the day, but that didn’t
stop Brooklynites, who claimed
that police enforcement is
too often harsher for African
Americans in New York City
and around the county.
“The injustice towards people
of color by the police has
been going on for way too long,”
protester Ziyana Johnson told
Brooklyn Paper. “We protest
and we protest and we’re never
heard.”
Multiple demonstrators
were beaten, maced, and arrested
by offi cers — including
Flatbush Assemblywoman Diana
Richardson and Crown
Heights State Sen. Zellnor Myrie,
both of whom were peppersprayed
during the commotion.
Over 200 people were arrested
during the fi rst night
of demonstrations in Kings
County.
Nevertheless, the protest
continued throughout the weekend
— many of which were held
in the same spot outside of Barclays
Center, along with Grand
Army Plaza, and in the streets
of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
All told, well over 1,000 people
were arrested during the
week of unrest.
Throughout the week, some
protestors hurled bottles and
other objects at police, drawing
widespread condemnation for
authorities along with activists
hoping to keep the demonstrations
peaceful.
On the fl ip side, the NYPD
has come under fi re for some
of their tactics — including an
offi cer who pulled out his pistol
and aimed it at marchers
in Manhattan, a patrolman
who drove his police car into
a group of demonstrators, and
a cop who shoved a girl to the
ground and caused her to suffer
a seizure.
On Monday, the governor
and the mayor jointly announced
an 11 pm curfew, and
promptly moved it up to 8 pm on
Tuesday. That curfew will remain
in place until at least June
7 — although it failed to prevent
many Brooklynites from staying
out and demonstrating.
Soon after Monday’s curfew
began, de Blasio took to Twitter
to tell the protesters to head
home for the night.
“We support peaceful protest
in this city. But right
now it’s time to go home,” he
tweeted. “Some people are out
tonight not to protest but to destroy
property and hurt others
— and those people are being
arrested. Their actions are unacceptable
and we won’t allow
them in our city.”
Demonstrators take to
the streets in protest
of police brutality