A burnt NYPD vehicle remains on a Manhattan street after New Yorkers protested the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer (Wikimedia Commons/ BlaueBlüte / CC0)
Jun. 1, 2020 By Allie Griffin
New York City residents will have be to be home by 11 p.m. tonight, as the governor and mayor announced a curfew following a series of violent incidents and looting at protests over the weekend.
The leaders want the streets of New York City to be cleared from 11 p.m. through 5 a.m. The curfew will just be tonight and it will be re-evaluated Tuesday.
“Tonight, to protect against violence and property damage, the Governor and I have decided to implement a citywide curfew,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.
De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo decided to impose a curfew following looting and a number of violent incidents–such as a Molotov cocktail being thrown threw a police car window.
“The violence and the looting that has gone on in New York City has been bad for the city, the state and this entire national movement,” Cuomo said in a statement. “While we encourage people to protest peacefully and make their voices heard, safety of the general public is paramount and cannot be compromised.”
Cuomo also warned of coronavirus spreading among the thousands of protesters gathering together.
“At the same time, we are in the midst of a global pandemic which spreads through crowds and threatens public health,” he said. “Tonight the Mayor and I are implementing a citywide curfew starting at 11 p.m. and we are doubling the NYPD presence across the city.”
The NYPD will boost its presence from 4,000 officers to 8,000 officers to prevent violence and property damage, Cuomo said in a radio interview earlier in the day.
The additional officers will be deployed to parts of lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, areas that have been hit by looters.
Several cities across the nation have already put curfews into effect as large protests and riots have swept across the U.S.
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