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| Protests in N.Y.C. Continue for a 10th Day: Live Updates | Protests in N.Y.C. Continue for a 10th Day: Live Updates |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| A 10th day of protests against police brutality and racism filled the streets of New York City on Saturday, with thousands of people gathering and marching in demonstrations set off by the killing of a black man, George Floyd, who was pinned by the neck under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis. | |
| Under summery skies that occasionally dropped showers, the overwhelmingly peaceful protesters thronged bridges, blocked streets and shouted slogans into the afternoon, as motorists honked in support and the police watched. | Under summery skies that occasionally dropped showers, the overwhelmingly peaceful protesters thronged bridges, blocked streets and shouted slogans into the afternoon, as motorists honked in support and the police watched. |
| Three of the bigger protests, each with thousands of marchers, stepped off from the northwest corner of Central Park and from near the Empire State Building in Manhattan, and from Grand Army Plaza near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. | Three of the bigger protests, each with thousands of marchers, stepped off from the northwest corner of Central Park and from near the Empire State Building in Manhattan, and from Grand Army Plaza near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. |
| The protesters — whose goals include changing a New York State law that keeps police discipline records secret and reducing funding for the New York Police Department, as well as a more general demand for the end to systemic racism — showed no sign of flagging energy well into their second week of daily and nightly demonstrations. | |
| “Enough is enough,” said Ji’Mie Lane, who marched in the protest along Central Park West with her 6-year-old son. “We want as fair rights as everyone. I’m a mom, and the way George Floyd cried, it just broke my heart.” | “Enough is enough,” said Ji’Mie Lane, who marched in the protest along Central Park West with her 6-year-old son. “We want as fair rights as everyone. I’m a mom, and the way George Floyd cried, it just broke my heart.” |
| The city remains under a nightly curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., imposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio after a spree of looting and other violence early in the week. Each night, the police have tended to let protests continue past the curfew as long as they are peaceful, but only up to a point: Eventually, most nights, there have been sporadic clashes between police and protesters after dark, ending in hundreds of arrests. | The city remains under a nightly curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., imposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio after a spree of looting and other violence early in the week. Each night, the police have tended to let protests continue past the curfew as long as they are peaceful, but only up to a point: Eventually, most nights, there have been sporadic clashes between police and protesters after dark, ending in hundreds of arrests. |
| More than 2,000 people have been arrested over the course of the protests in the city. | More than 2,000 people have been arrested over the course of the protests in the city. |
| On Friday night around 9:30 p.m., a line of officers blocked hundreds of protesters at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, while dozens of patrol cars kept them from retreating. The protesters stopped and raised their arms, led in front by a line of cyclists who had been acting as a buffer. | On Friday night around 9:30 p.m., a line of officers blocked hundreds of protesters at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, while dozens of patrol cars kept them from retreating. The protesters stopped and raised their arms, led in front by a line of cyclists who had been acting as a buffer. |
| Randy Williams, 38, stepped forward and began talking to some of the officers, working with other organizers to try to ease a tense situation. The group negotiated for the protesters to be able to leave peacefully, without arrests. | Randy Williams, 38, stepped forward and began talking to some of the officers, working with other organizers to try to ease a tense situation. The group negotiated for the protesters to be able to leave peacefully, without arrests. |
| “This is the first protest people have not feared for their life,” Mr. Williams said. “The protest has ended for the night. We will respectfully go home now.” | “This is the first protest people have not feared for their life,” Mr. Williams said. “The protest has ended for the night. We will respectfully go home now.” |
| But some of the protesters continued to walk on, and on Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights, officers appeared to surround them. Videos showed officers aggressively pushing a man who was filming them as they made arrests, then chasing him with a baton and shoving a reporter who was filming while the man was taken into custody. | But some of the protesters continued to walk on, and on Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights, officers appeared to surround them. Videos showed officers aggressively pushing a man who was filming them as they made arrests, then chasing him with a baton and shoving a reporter who was filming while the man was taken into custody. |
| On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, police blocked a march that started near the mayor’s official residence and arrested around 20 people, rushing at some and forcing them to the ground. | On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, police blocked a march that started near the mayor’s official residence and arrested around 20 people, rushing at some and forcing them to the ground. |
| The mayor has continued to defend the police’s actions in breaking up demonstrations, even as videos and photos showed officers employing aggressive and sometimes violent tactics to do so. | |
| “What I saw overwhelmingly, and have continued to see, is peaceful protest being respected on both sides,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news briefing on Friday. | |
| But with criticism of the mayor mounting — including from Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, who had helped the tension in Clinton Hill on Thursday — he said for the first time that some officers would be disciplined, and suspended, for their treatment of protesters. | But with criticism of the mayor mounting — including from Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, who had helped the tension in Clinton Hill on Thursday — he said for the first time that some officers would be disciplined, and suspended, for their treatment of protesters. |
| Late Friday, several were. | Late Friday, several were. |
| The mayor also continued to defend the curfew against calls that it be abandoned. He said it would be enforced through Monday morning, when the city is scheduled to begin reopening after a lengthy shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. | The mayor also continued to defend the curfew against calls that it be abandoned. He said it would be enforced through Monday morning, when the city is scheduled to begin reopening after a lengthy shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. |
| On Saturday, the police commissioner, Dermot F. Shea, took to Twitter to announced the arrest of two men in Brooklyn who had attended a rally and were carrying gasoline, knives and a machete in their car. | |
| Mr. Shea shared a news article that showed a photo of the ominous items displayed on a table. The police said that on Thursday a tip from a protester led them to a black Chrysler with Ohio plates. | |
| When police stopped the car, one of the men told an officer, “there is a knife in the car,” the police said. The police recovered a tank of gasoline, knives, a machete and two-way radios, Mr. Shea said on Twitter Saturday. The men are facing weapons possession charges, the police said. | |
| “All thanks to the community & cops working together,” Mr. Shea said on Twitter. | |
| The police said also on Saturday they had also arrested a man in connection with an act of vandalism at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The police said someone scrawled George Floyd’s name and “BLM,” for Black Lives Matter, on the exterior walls of cathedral May 30, just as protests were underway. | |
| For 10 days and nights, New Yorkers have marched, knelt and spoken out in rain and withering humidity to protest the killing of Mr. Floyd, systemic racism and inequality writ-large. | |
| And on Saturday afternoon, during the city’s second weekend of demonstrations, organizers urged people to continue the fight, both on the streets in the days to come and at the ballot box in the weeks and months ahead. | |
| “Make sure that this does not stop here,” Timothy Hunter, 21, an organizer with the activist group Strategy for Black Lives, implored demonstrators in Downtown Brooklyn. | |
| “The democratic primary is June 23,” he added. | |
| “Vote them out! Vote them out!” the crowd chanted in response. | |
| The rally was one of at least two dozen peaceful events planned for Saturday, from the Bronx and Queens to Manhattan and Staten Island. As in previous days, demonstrators urged each other to social distance, stay in the portions of the streets that had been designated for them, and avoid confrontations with police officers monitoring their movements. | |
| And all around the city, there were signs that New Yorkers who were not marching were finding their own new and innovate ways to help sustain the protests. | |
| At Washington Square Park, about a half dozen people stopped Saturday afternoon and lingered around a locked bathroom. One person leaned in to read a sign posted on the wall: “Water + Bathrooms Available,” it said, with an address. | |
| A few blocks away at the address on the sign, two young men welcomed people to an open door. A large cardboard sign read: “Refuge for Protesters.” And inside the building, a private school, the air conditioning was on and hand sanitizer, apples, water and various snacks were available. | |
| A line had also formed to use a pair of bathrooms. | |
| “We’re going to stay and do this as long as we’re needed today,” said Frank Portella, a teacher at the school. “I think that’s a way we can be a good ally today.” | |
| At Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights, several hundred people had assembled by 3 p.m. | |
| Several makeshift stations had been assembled on folding tables in front of the arch and inside the plaza; they too displayed chips, bottles of water and Gatorade for the taking. | |
| One station, organized by the Black Chef Movement, bore signs advocating prison and police reform and offered free vegan wraps. | |
| “Our goals is to literally keep this protest going as long as possible,” said one of the chefs, Rasheeda McCallum, 29. “If we can feed protesters, we can give them an actual incentive to come out.” | |
| District attorneys in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx will not prosecute people arrested and accused of low-level offenses, including unlawful assembly or violating the curfew, in the protests. | District attorneys in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx will not prosecute people arrested and accused of low-level offenses, including unlawful assembly or violating the curfew, in the protests. |
| Since last week, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the city on charges like disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, unlawful assembly, assault on a police officer and burglary, according to the police and prosecutors. | Since last week, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the city on charges like disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, unlawful assembly, assault on a police officer and burglary, according to the police and prosecutors. |
| On Friday, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said in a statement: “Our office has a moral imperative to enact public policies which assure all New Yorkers that in our justice system and our society, black lives matter and police violence is a crime.” | On Friday, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said in a statement: “Our office has a moral imperative to enact public policies which assure all New Yorkers that in our justice system and our society, black lives matter and police violence is a crime.” |
| Brooklyn’s district attorney, Eric Gonzalez, said this week, “We will respond to the arrests here, but we will make sure the prosecution of the individual makes sense and does not trample on the right to assemble.” | Brooklyn’s district attorney, Eric Gonzalez, said this week, “We will respond to the arrests here, but we will make sure the prosecution of the individual makes sense and does not trample on the right to assemble.” |
| A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. | A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. |
| Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for the Police Department said in a statement, “It is our understanding that each arrest will continue to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.”‘Jail support’ stations sprout up to help those arrested. | Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for the Police Department said in a statement, “It is our understanding that each arrest will continue to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.”‘Jail support’ stations sprout up to help those arrested. |
| Since protests began in New York City, more than 2,000 people have been arrested after clashing with the police during largely peaceful demonstrations or while looting. The majority have been detained for more than 24 hours, defense lawyers said. | |
| On Thursday morning, volunteers gathered around a similar “jail support” station near Brooklyn’s central booking. A nurse in scrubs sat near a long table along with several others in masks. | On Thursday morning, volunteers gathered around a similar “jail support” station near Brooklyn’s central booking. A nurse in scrubs sat near a long table along with several others in masks. |
| They had arranged gauze and bandages, ibuprofen and antibiotic ointment on one end of the table, along with pots of salve and calming bath salts that had been donated. | They had arranged gauze and bandages, ibuprofen and antibiotic ointment on one end of the table, along with pots of salve and calming bath salts that had been donated. |
| At another table, volunteers waited to offer stacks of clementines and large serving dishes of food. One volunteer said most people were released between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. | At another table, volunteers waited to offer stacks of clementines and large serving dishes of food. One volunteer said most people were released between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. |
| Reporting was contributed by Terence McGinley, Andy Newman, Derek M. Norman, Sean Piccoli, Edgar Sandoval, Matt Stevens, Matthew Sedacca and Nate Schweber. |