Peaceful protests met with pepper spray, batons; After curfew, Brooklyn police officers ambushed

June 4, 2020 Michael R. Sisak and Jim Mustian Associated Press

New York Police Officers blocked Cadman Plaza West as protesters rallied for justice for the death of George Floyd on Wednesday. Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP

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NEW YORK (AP) — A day that began with hope that New York City was beginning to find a way out of the crisis caused by the coronavirus and a week of angry demonstrations over police brutality ended Wednesday with more violence.

Peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd drew thousands of people, but were broken up by police as rain poured down about an hour after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew went into effect.

About an hour after the 8 p.m. deadline to get off the street, officers began moving in on crowds of demonstrators in Manhattan and Brooklyn, at times blasting people with pepper spray or using batons to shove people who didn’t move fast enough.

City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who attended a rally in downtown Brooklyn, expressed outrage that police had broken up the peaceful demonstration by shoving protesters and hitting them with batons.

“I can’t believe what I just witnessed & experienced,” Williams wrote on Twitter. He called the use of force on nonviolent protesters “disgusting.”

Asked whether those officers had acted appropriately, de Blasio said Thursday that he had not seen videos of officers using batons on peaceful protesters.

Protesters confronted New York Police officers as part of a solidarity rally on Wednesday calling for justice for George Floyd. Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP

The mayor said protesters should observe the curfew that’s in place through Sunday. “If at a certain point, officers say, ‘It’s time, people need to go now,’ people need to listen to that,” he said.

NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said about 60 people were arrested near Central Park for defying an order to go home.

“When we have these big crowds, especially in this area, especially where we’ve had the looting, no more tolerance,” Monahan said. “They have to be off the street.”

Then, with the streets quiet for the first time in days, police said a man ambushed officers on an anti-looting patrol in Brooklyn, stabbing him in the neck. The attacker was shot by responding officers and was in critical condition.

Two officers suffered gunshot wounds to their hands in the chaos, but all three wounded officers were expected to recover.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea called it “a completely, cowardly, despicable, unprovoked attack on a defenseless police officer.” While he declined to say what motivated the attack, he drew a line to the heated rhetoric of the past week.

“Words matter,” Shea said.

New York City police officers gathered early Thursday near the site police where three police officers were ambushed nearly four hours after an 8 p.m. curfew. Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP

During the day, some protesters had been heartened by news that three more Minneapolis police officers had been charged in connection to the May 25 death of Floyd, a Black man who died after an officer pressed a knee on his neck for almost nine minutes, until Floyd stopped pleading for air.

But most said they wanted bigger societal changes to fight institutional racism in policing.

“There’s been progress, but are we at a point where we can all celebrate? No,” said demonstrator Lisa Horton, calling for “radical change” in the criminal justice system.

Tuesday night’s protests had also been mostly peaceful, prompting de Blasio to declare that an early curfew was working.

It is set to remain in effect through at least Sunday, with the city planning to lift it at the same time it enters the first phase of reopening after more than two months of shutdowns because of the coronavirus.