Due to protests over the death of George Floyd, which have led to hundreds of arrests and injuries, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that there will be a curfew in New York City from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. until Sunday, June 7.
“We will take steps immediately to ensure that there will be peace and order today and tonight, and all week in New York City, I am extending the curfew, which I announced would be beginning again at 8:00 p.m. tonight going until 5:00 a.m. Wednesday morning,” he said during his morning press conference on Tuesday. “We’re going to continue that curfew for the remainder of this week, 8:00 p.m. each evening until 5:00 a.m. the next morning. We’re going to ensure there are additional NYPD resources where they are needed. We’re going to work actively and strategically to stop any disorder. But, again, community leaders need to be a part of this effort.”
Commissioner George Shea also discussed the importance of the curfew.
“When you talk about the protests and the steps the mayor has taken, and it’s important to reemphasize that, we encourage people to come out today, peacefully protest,” he said. “We hear you. We understand the concerns and we’ll get through this together. But we also know that we cannot allow what has happened. So, just reminding everyone we would love to get through today. We’ve seen good and bad over the last couple of days without a single arrest being made. There will be the curfew in place at 8:00 p.m. tonight. Everyone should be off the street by 8:00 p.m. We understand again that this is not New York City based. It’s a much larger story. It extends literally across the country to major cities. We saw disturbances throughout New York State yesterday from Buffalo to Albany, to the suburbs, and certainly here in New York City.”
According to Councilmember Justin Brannan, the rules are very similar to the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Essential workers are still allowed outside after 8 PM and that includes delivery people,” he said. “Restaurants & bars that do take-out & delivery are also allowed to operate past 8 PM since they are considered essential.”
First responders, essential workers, essential businesses and people seeking medical attention are exempt from the curfew.
“Restaurants/bars for take-out/delivery, pharmacies, grocery stores, etc. same rules as COVID-19 orders,” Brannan added. “If you gotta walk your dog, you gotta do what you gotta do.”
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Cuomo discussed the protesting and massive looting in several of the city’s boroughs and the role of the NYPD.
“Those looters, that criminal activity, hurt everyone,” he said. “In the communities of the protesters, which are the communities that tend to be the poorest communities in New York City. And the police in New York City were not effective at doing their job last night, period. They have to do a better job, but separate the protesters from the looting, they are two very different situations with two very different responses, two very different motivations.”
U.S. Rep. Max Rose chimed in on the protests that have turned violent and has called for the National Guard to be deployed to New York City to enforce the curfew
“Let’s be very clear that the majority of the protests yesterday were peaceful,” he said in a statement. “We saw officers and protesters across the city kneel in solidarity. Thousands took to the streets and peacefully expressed their anguish and demands for action. The mayhem that occurred in parts of the city last night — the unprecedented looting and attacks on officers and bystanders — was not the work of peaceful protesters. It was not part of the movement to ensure justice for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality. And anyone who would say so is being dishonest at best.
“Last night demonstrated that the mayor has lost control of the situation once and for all. If we are going to enforce an 8:00 p.m. curfew tonight, then the National Guard must be deployed to assist with that and that alone.”
However, de Blasio reinforced that the National Guard will not be deployed to the city.
“We do not need nor do we think it’s wise for the National Guard to be in New York City nor any armed forces,” he said. “Someone needs a history lesson. When outside armed forces go into communities, no good comes of it. We have seen this for decades. Go back to the ’50s, ’60s with the Civil Rights movement on through all the way up to today. People who are not trained for the conditions in New York City, they are public servants, they protect us in a different way. I appreciate them deeply, but they’re not trained for the circumstance here. They have not been spending decades working on the relationship between police and community, particularly in the intensive way it’s been worked on in recent years, every officer out there, and some of them are imperfect because we’re all human beings, but the vast majority are doing their job, doing it well, doing it with restraint because they’ve been trained incessantly to act with restraint.”
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