New York City imposes 11 p.m. curfew amid Floyd protests

NEW YORK  — New York City imposed an 11 p.m. curfew Monday as the nation’s biggest city tried to head off another night of destruction erupting amid protests over George Floyd’s death.

A Statue of Liberty painting is seen through a smashed Dolce and Gabbana store window, Monday, June 1, 2020, in the SoHo neighbourhood of New York. Protesters broke into the store Sunday night in reaction to George Floyd’s death while in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

With an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, New York is joining other cities around the country in imposing such measures after days of violence. The limit on the movement of more than 8 million people comes after months of restrictions already imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the outbreaks of violence — which left stores ransacked, police vehicles burned and other destruction in spots around the city — gave them no choice, even as they insisted they stood with the throngs of peaceful demonstrators who have spoken out for several days against police brutality and racial injustice.

“We can’t let violence undermine the message of this moment,” de Blasio said in a statement. Cuomo blamed “people who are looking to distract and discredit” the protests and said they couldn’t be allowed to undermine public safety.

The two leaders, both Democrats, also said many more police officers would be deployed Monday night.

The plans came as more protests got under way, with big crowds rallying in Times Square and Brooklyn on Monday afternoon and marching through the streets.

One Times Square demonstrator, Giselle Francisco, considered the curfew necessary.

“There are people who have ulterior motives, and they’re trying to hijack the message,” the New Yorker said.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea expressed doubts earlier Monday about whether a curfew would be heeded. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a retired police captain whose borough has been a focal point for demonstrations and some damage, also had doubts.

“There are real deep, legitimate wounds, and if we’re not going to put the same level of energy into correcting those wounds as we’re going to put into telling people not to come out at 11, then we’re going to fail, and this is going to prolong the problem,” said Adams, a Democrat.

The New York City Liberties Union has criticized curfews as curbing demonstrations.

After largely peaceful protests Sunday, groups of people poured down the sidewalks in Manhattan’s chic Soho neighborhood and other areas overnight, breaking into Rolex, Kate Spade and Prada boutiques and electronics stores. Hundreds of people were arrested.

“People are doing this so next time, before they think about trying to kill another black person, they’re going to be like, ‘Damn, we don’t want them out here doing this … again,'” New York City resident Sean Jones said as he watched the destruction.

A 21-year-old man was shot in chic SoHo around 12:30 a.m. and was taken to a hospital, police said. They said his injuries were not life-threatening.

On Monday morning, police were visible on some of SoHo’s hardest-hit streets as stores boarded up.

“It’s disturbing because I’m 100% behind the protesters and against police brutality and bad cops killing people of color whenever they fricking want to, but this is a different story,” said Ruby Packard, a teacher and longtime SoHo resident.

“There are people using this as a reason to create chaos and be violent,” she added.

Sunday was the third night in a row of mainly peaceful daytime demonstrations, chaotic nights, hot spots of violence and arrests, with the mayor’s daughter among those arrested over the weekend.

An arrest report obtained by the New York Post said Chiara de Blasio, 25, refused to leave a Manhattan street officers were clearing Saturday because people were throwing things. She was released with a court summons.

Her father said Monday she told him she’d behaved peacefully and believed she had followed police officers’ instructions.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets around the nation to express outrage over Floyd’s May 25 death and other killings of black people, particularly by police. Floyd, who was black, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck.

On Sunday, some New York City police officers knelt with protesters. But officers have also clashed with demonstrators.

Shea said the department is investigating officers’ behavior in about six incidents, including one in which two police vehicles plowed through a group of protesters Saturday in Brooklyn.

On Sunday, video posted to social media showed a police officer pulling a gun and pointing it at demonstrators on a debris-littered Manhattan street. A supervisor ushered the officer away.

Cuomo said some officers had exacerbated tensions with some “very disturbing” actions. Police union president Patrick Lynch said Cuomo was “wrongly blaming the chaos on the cops.”

 GSG