Thousands Of George Floyd Protesters Take To The Streets Of New York For The 10th Day

LAGOS JUNE 7^TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Thousands of George Floyd protesters took to the streets for a tenth straight day of marches and rallies across the Big Apple on Saturday, with many anti-cop demonstrators urging the dismantling of New York’s Finest.

Throngs blew past the 8 p.m. curfew in fast-moving marches throughout Manhattan, including Washington Square Park, Union Square, and along the FDR Drive at Delancey, where protesters briefly blocked traffic.

More marchers converged well into the night in Brooklyn, including at McCarren Park, the Brooklyn Museum and the Barclays Center.

Earlier, an estimated 5,000 people filled Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to hear speeches from activists and thousands more marched from Grand Army Plaza over the Brooklyn Bridge to lower Manhattan.

Some marchers from Brooklyn, holding signs that said “Bust police unions,” “Amerikkka” and “BLM,” held a moment of silence for Floyd and others lost to police violence.

“The police has always suppressed and repressed the poor and working class. The only thing that people can do is go out into the streets,” said Harlem activist Juan Peralta, who joined the march from West 110th Street to Washington Square Park.

Kirsten John Foy, a minister and activist, took on Mayor Bill de Blasio — for whom he worked when Hizzoner was public advocate.

“You think you can invoke and invoke the legacy of black life with photo ops, by pushing people in front of you that look like us,” Foy said. “But we see through your lies.”

As of Saturday morning, 1,049 arrests tied to the protests had been made in the previous week and police had issued 1,475 summonses for violating the curfew, NYPD officials said at a briefing.

Saturday marked a rare night without violent clashes between police and protesters as large demonstrations across the city ended without major incident.

Police were out in force but used restraint in allowing protesters to carry on for several hours after curfew.

In Brooklyn, a crowd of several thousand protesters dwindled to just a few hundred before peacefully dispersing in East Flatbush around 11:30 p.m.

Manhattan shared a similar scene when a group of nearly a thousand protesters shrunk to about two hundred as they walked miles across the Island. Eventually they stopped at the Macy’s flagship on 34th Street at around 11 p.m.

The group took a knee after finding themselves surrounded by police in riot gear.

“We moved and shook the world. The world is watching,” Perris Howard, an organizer said into a megaphone.

“United we are powerful. I want you to raise a fist in solidarity. We are going to have a moment of silence for every black life that was lost to systemic racism.”

The crowd pledged to be back.

“Does this end today?” Howard asked.

“No!” the crowd yelled back.

“The next day?”

“No!”

“And the next?”

“No!”

New York Times

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