The video that has been broadcast on the networks leaves no room for doubt: premeditated abuse. Two New York police cars struck dozens of protesters on the street Saturday over the death of African-American citizen George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.
The images are clear. Several dozen protesters, some thirty, block the street and prevent the passage of a police vehicle with fences, while some people throw bottles, plastic bags, cones at them … Another police car arrives, in parallel, and advances unceremoniously running over the people in front of them.
Wtf!!! #BlacklivesMaters #brooklynprotest pic.twitter.com/S1oet8JC0x
— Pierre G. (@pgarapon) May 31, 2020
Immediately afterwards, the first vehicle, which was stopped, takes an example and also attacks the human fence that crossed its path. The attack took place on Saturday afternoon in the New York neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
The reactions were precipitated on the social networks. One of the most combative voices was that of Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “They could have been killed and we do not know how many were injured,” said the deputy, demanding that Mayor Bill de Blasio should these agents “be brought to justice” and not remain in an “internal” matter.
NYPD officers just drove an SUV into a crowd of human beings. They could‘ve killed them, &we don’t know how many they injured.
NO ONE gets to slam an SUV through a crowd of human beings.@NYCMayor these officers need to be brought to justice, not dismissed w/“internal reviews.” https://t.co/oIaBShSC1S
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 31, 2020
The mayor, against the protesters
Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, defended police action and blamed protesters for standing in front
New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio has defended the police action while blaming the demonstrators for what happened. “If those protesters had gotten out of their way and hadn’t tried to surround that vehicle, we wouldn’t be talking about this situation,” he said in an interview on NY1. “The agents had to get out of that situation, they were surrounded.”
De Blasio, NYC’s first Democratic mayor since 1993, justified the outrage because he believes the situation was increasingly “dangerous” for officers. “I think the NYPD has acted correctly, there was a lot of restraint on their part, but if there are cases that are not appropriate, we will act accordingly.”
Replica of the congresswoman
“Hitting people with SUVs should never be normalized. It doesn’t matter who does it. It doesn’t matter why” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez charges against De Blasio
“Hitting people with SUVs (police vehicles) should never be standardized. It doesn’t matter who does it. It does not matter why”, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answered before the mayor’s justifications. The congresswoman says that the mayor’s comments “are unacceptable” and that at the moment “leadership” by De Blasio is necessary.
@NYCMayor your comments tonight were unacceptable.
As mayor, this police department is under your leadership.
This moment demands leadership & accountability from each of us. Defending and making excuses for NYPD running SUVs into crowds was wrong.
Make it right. De-escalate.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 31, 2020
In this interview, Bill de Blasio took the opportunity to reject the idea of enacting a curfew in New York and urged citizens to return to their homes.