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Photos: Brooklyn businesses brace for potential post-Election Day unrest

November 2, 2020 Brooklyn Eagle Staff, Associated Press
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Judging by the plywood, it’s shaping up to be an Election Day like no other.

Several businesses in Downtown Brooklyn had by Monday boarded or papered their windows in an effort to prevent damage amid potential unrest following Tuesday’s election.

The businesses, already under stress amid the coronavirus pandemic, could face graffiti and broken windows amid fallout from the hotly contested presidential race.

New York police officers have been holding tabletop exercises to prepare for potential unrest and shifting hundreds of officers to patrol duties.

A memo to NYPD officers called the vote “one of the most highly contested presidential elections in the modern era” and noted that the winner “may not be decided for several weeks.”

“We want to be very careful not to either over-police, because that that could send a signal, or under-police,” said John Miller, the department’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking last week on a local radio show, said it was too early to predict what would happen, but that the city would be ready.

“We’re going to be prepared for a lot of protests, prolonged protests, potentially different protest groups confronting each other,” he said. “If anything turns violent, we’re going to move to stop that immediately.”

Election-related disruption ramped up Sunday, as caravans of vehicles draped with banners supporting President Donald Trump halted traffic on the Mario Cuomo Bridge and Garden State Parkway.

On Oct. 27, several businesses on Court Street and Atlantic Avenue were damaged during a protest over the police shooting of Walter Wallace, Jr. in Philadelphia.

The following photos were taken on Monday, Nov. 2. To browse our recent election coverage, click here.





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