After four consecutive nights of protests against police brutality that have led to lootin and gclashes with the NYPD, Gov. Cuomo announced that a curfew is being imposed in New York City. The order, signed by de Blasio and released just before 6 p.m. (15 minutes ago), states that violating the curfew will be considered a class B misdemeanor, which is often punishable by up to 90 days in jail.
The citywide curfew will be in effect from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and NYPD will patrol the streets of New York
At a live interview on WAMC radio station, Gov. Cuomo first announced the curfew and after that, in a joint press release, with Mayor de Blasio, they announce that the NYPD will be deployed to lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, where they say “violence and property damage occurred during last night’s protests.”
Gov. Cuomo said:
“I spoke with the mayor, there’s going to be a curfew in New York City that we think could be helpful, More importantly, there is going to be an increase in the force. There were about 4,000 officers on duty last night. There’ll be double that tonight, about 8,000.”
Essential workers and homeless New Yorkers are exempt from the mandate, according to the order.
Curfews have already been imposed in Chicago, Los Angeles, as well as some upstate, including Rochester and Albany and several major cities in other states.
At the live interview on WAMC radio station, Gov. Cuomo added:
“That’s not righteous indignation. That’s criminality. And it plays into the hands of the people and the forces that don’t want to make the changes in the first place. Because then they get to dismiss the entire effort. They’re going to try to paint this whole protest movement that they’re all criminals, they’re all looters,”
By Alex Ammohostianos
