Report shows NYPD tactics in June protests
Participants said they experience ‘kettling,’ tear gas and excessive force
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The Human Rights Watch
released a 99-page, detailed
report and nearly 13 minute
video which documented
NYPD tactics used during a
Black Lives Matter protest
of about 300 in Mott Haven
that turned into chaos on
Saturday, June 4.
It alleged that minutes
prior to the city’s then 8:00
p.m. curfew, NYPD offi cers
blocked in protestors from
both sides at the intersection
of Brook Avenue and E. 136th
street, a practice referred to
as “kettling” by the HRW.
However in this case, it is
alleged that protestors were
deliberately contained and
not led to an exit until after
the curfew was in effect.
That’s when the mass arrests
began while Chief of Department
Terrence Monahan
was on site.
“We were being packed
and packed like sardines,”
one protester said according
to the report, which also
stated that many had been
chanting “let us go” and one
even yelled “you’re gonna
kill us; I can’t breathe.”
The report also accused
and showed NYPD striking
people with batons from the
tops of cars, shoving protestors
down to the ground and
allegedly fi ring pepper spray
in their faces.
“Then it’s kind of all a
blur,” one protester told
HRW in the report, saying a
police offi cer punched him in
the face while twisting and
breaking his fi nger.
BRONX TIMES R 20 EPORTER,OCTOBER 2-8, 2020 BTR
He went on to say a
third offi cer pulled off
his face mask and pepper
sprayed him.
“Then they dragged me on
the ground and beat me with
batons,” he said according to
the document. “Somewhere
in the process of being cuffed,
I had a knee on my neck.”
The following day, NYPD
Commissioner Dermot Shea
said that posters had been
displayed throughout Mott
Haven which claimed that
demonstrators were going
“to burn things down” and
“cause mayhem.”
Ida Sawyer, an author of
the report, acknowledged
that violent fl yers depicting
offi cers being jumped on and
police cars being set ablaze
were found at the time during
a press conference on
Wednesday, Sept. 30.
That came in the context
of previous protests which
had turned into violent, fi ery
rioting and looting on Fordham
Road, Burnside Avenue
and other parts of the Bronx
on Monday, June 1.
Shea stated on June 5 that
offi cers recovered fi rearms,
gasoline and numerous other
unspecifi ed weapons at the
protests. He then blamed
peaceful protesters for who
“might have gotten caught
up” in arrests or baton beatings
for turning out to a protest
that advertised violence.
Since that time, reports
indicated that gasoline and
weapons recovered by police
were not connected to
that protest.
The Human Rights Watch
stated the report was based
on interviews or written accounts
from 81 people who
engaged in the Mott Haven
protest as well as interviews
with 19 other community
members, lawyers, activists
and city offi cials in addition
to analysis of 155 videos
that were recorded during
the protest.
An illustration detailing alleged ‘kettling’ done by the NYPD during the Mott Haven from June.
Screenshot via Zoom