18 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 27, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
BLM, pro-police protesters face off in Woodside
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Sabba Park in Woodside was home to a
tense but peaceful standoff between Black
Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter protesters
on Saturday, Aug. 22.
About 100 Black Lives Matter demonstrators
gathered in John Vincent Daniels
Jr. Square, below the 52 Street – Lincoln
Avenue subway station along the 7 train
line, around 10 a.m. Th e demonstration
was assembled aft er organizers heard
about the pro-police march, which was
scheduled to gather at 39th Street and
Greenpoint Avenue at 11 a.m.
Black Lives Matter protesters and Blue
Lives Matter protesters have clashed several
times in Queens over the past several
months. On July 12, a pro-police group
and a Black Lives Matter group met violently
in Crocheron Park. In addition
to trading verbal insults, an assault, in
which a pro-police protester hit a Black
Lives Matter supporter, was captured on
video. Saturday’s meeting of the groups in
Woodside, though tense at times, did not
turn violent and no arrests were made.
For the Black Lives Matter organizers,
Saturday’s demonstration was about education.
“We want to educate pro-police supporters
on what over-policing is, on what
the policies are,” said Jessica, a Black Lives
Matter organizer who requested her last
name be withheld for safety reasons. “I
think it’s a great attempt. I really hope it
has some sort of bearing on the crowd
that’s coming.”
Grace Frutos, a Black Lives Matter organizer
from Sunnyside, said her hope was
to not necessarily change the minds of
her ideological opponents but to instead
“plant the seed,” and encourage them to
do research on their own.
“Our group is moving from protesting
every day in all the fi ve boroughs, to more
community workshop kind of events with
the understanding that it’s really about
educating the community,” Frutos said.
“Once they realize what sort of oppressive
system they’re supporting, we know
they’ll come to our side.”
About a mile away, around 100 Blue
Lives Matter demonstrators lined the sidewalk
of Greenpoint Avenue near the intersection
of Greenpoint and 39th Street.
While many demonstrators had come
out on the late summer weekend to show
support for the 108th Precinct, others
were there to see how the clash would
play out.
“It’s in my neighborhood. It’s Saturday,”
said Jay Gold, who marched with the
Blue Lives Matter group. Gold added that
he believed that defunding the police,
a major tenet of the Black Lives Matter
movement, is “absolutely ridiculous.”
A couple marching with the group who
requested their names be withheld for
safety reasons, agreed.
“Th e police are necessary and part of
being in a city that’s safe,” they said. “We feel
the rhetoric and the message has been lost.”
Flanked by countless police offi cers and
trailed by at least eight police cars, the
Blue Lives Matter group, which was primarily
comprised of older, white people,
began to march northeast around
11:05 a.m.
As the Blue Lives Matter group marched,
Sunnyside residents shared mixed reactions
to the demonstration.
“People have freedom of speech,” said
Marconi Alexandria, who watched the
march from the sidewalk. “I actually
thought there would be more people.”
Others found the march off ensive,
including two women eating lunch outdoors
as the marchers walked by.
“It’s embarrassing,” said June Choi.
“Th ere are a lot of minorities in the neighborhood
and this march is so disrespectful.
”Th
e Blue Lives Matter march arrived
at Sabba Park around 11:30 a.m., to fi nd
the Black Lives Matter group, which was
a younger, more diverse coalition of supporters,
already there and assembled.
Sitting on the ground, blocking the
most direct route to the center of the park,
demonstrators held signs reading “Please
Google ‘over-policing’” and “Black people
are saying stop killing us, y’all saying,
‘but.’”
For about a minute, the two groups
stood opposed to each other in silence.
Slowly, pro-police demonstrations began
walking on the outskirts of the park, an
area that Black Lives Matter protesters
had not blocked.
Th e two groups silently melded into one
in the center of Sabba Park a few minutes
later. Black Lives Matter protesters
stood next to Blue Lives Matter protesters
until leaders of the pro-police group
began to speak.
“My wish today is that you see some of
these offi cers protecting both sides, see
them for who they are,” one of the propolice
organizers said. “I hope that both
sides realize that we’re all human.”
All was calm until Councilman Robert
Holden, who voted against the city’s
June budget because of cuts made to the
NYPD, took the mic.
A Black Lives Matter protester blasted a
police siren through their bullhorn when
Holden began his remarks.
“Th e Black Lives Matter protesters
haven’t lived through the bad times of
New York City,” Holden said. “We have
and we have to back the blue.”
At one point, Black Lives Matter
demonstrators began to play speeches
by famous Black racial justice fi ghters,
including Malcom X.
As a Blue Lives Matter demonstrator
spoke about the dangers of defunding
the police, a recording of Gil Scott-Heron
could be heard asking, “Who will survive
in America?” Th e competing speeches
drowned each other out.
About 40 minutes aft er arriving, propolice
supporters began to leave. Th e
NYPD offi cers who had escorted them
to Sabba Park remained, as did the Black
Lives Matter protesters.
Once the park was theirs, Black Lives
Matter protesters began to chant, give
speeches and hold a four-minute meditation.
With about 30 police offi cers lined
on the outside of the park, organizers
asked them their reason for being there.
“If you’re going to keep us in this park,
at least learn what we are fi ghting for,” one
of the organizers said through a bullhorn.
Around 1:15 p.m., Black Lives Matter
protesters departed Sabba Park to head
back to John Vincent Daniels Jr. Square
where the demonstration would end.
Sabba Park was nearly empty by 1:30
p.m., save for three Black Lives Matter
organizers and an NYPD community
aff airs offi cer from the 108th Precinct.
Th ey had all stayed behind to share what
brought them to the park on Saturday,
what they were fi ghting for.
As people from the neighborhood
returned to the park to eat their lunches
and spend time outside, the four men
continued their conversation.
protests
Photos by Dean Moses
Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter protesters clashed in Woodside’s Sabba Park on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020.
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