As riots over George Floyd’s death and general racial inequality resonate across the United States, local politicians face a new intense wave of pressure from protesters demanding police budget cuts as they try to balance law enforcement in their cities and enact reforms.
In the latest development, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is grappling with protesters who refuse to leave a camp in front of New York City Hall as they demand that $ 1 billion be cut from the department’s budget. of cop. The department’s budget is approximately $ 6 billion, and the city has a budget deadline of July 1.
DE BLASIO PROPOSES NYPD’S MASS BUDGET CUT
“The #DefundNYPD campaign for #NYCBudgetJustice demands that at least $ 1 billion be reduced from the NYPD budget, and this money must be reinvested for services, programs, and infrastructure that directly benefit black, Latinx, and other communities of color most devastated by COVID -19, “says the United Communities for Police Reform website.
De Blasio, in turn, proposed a plan that would bow to protesters’ demand for the $ 1 billion cut in police funding.
“My office presented the City Council with a plan that would reach $ 1 billion in savings for the NYPD and transfer resources to youth, to communities in a way that would help address many of the underlying problems we know to be the cause of so many problems in our society, “he said Monday.
Across the country, Seattle officials have been in their own clash with the organized protest of Capitol Hill (CHOP), an area several blocks from the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood that has been occupied for weeks by activists seeking the disbursement from the city police department.
There was another shooting on Monday morning at the CHOP. One person was injured and another died, according to the Seattle Police Department. This is the fifth shooting in the area since it was declared “police free” by its occupants, who forced the police to leave a compound in the area. Monday’s shooting resulted in CHOP’s second death.
“Homicide detectives are investigating after one man died and another was injured in a shooting early Monday morning on Capitol Hill,” the Seattle Police Department said in a statement Monday.
LAST PICTURES OF SEATTLE CHOP SEES ONE DEAD, ANOTHER IN A CRITICAL CONDITION
According to reports, protesters, as the occupied area is becoming more difficult to manage, are considering returning to the abandoned compound to secure it as they try to make the city yield to their demands.
The death of a previous shooting at CHOP prompted Mayor Jenny Durkan to announce that she would move to dismantle the area, but efforts to ask the organizers to leave, thus avoiding police intervention, have so far been unsuccessful.
NEW YORK, USA – JUNE 24: A group of Black Lives Matter protesters prepare banners at City Hall in front of One Police Plaza as part of the “Defund NYPD” and “Occupy City Hall” movement after spending the night on June 24, 2020 in New York, United States. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES PROPOSAL TO REDUCE NYPD BUDGET BY $ 1B
On Friday, meanwhile, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson apologized after reading the names and partial addresses of at least 10 protesters calling for the police to be kicked out during a now-removed live briefing on the coronavirus, which led some to accuse her of doxxing and calls for her resignation. Krewson, in response to a question about the protesters, said some had given him suggestions to underfund the police and spend that money elsewhere, reading the names and streets of at least 10 activists.
“They presented me with some documents about how they wanted the budget to be spent,” Krewson said, holding up a stack of crumpled papers. “Here’s one who wants $ 50 million for Cure Violence, $ 75 million for Affordable Housing, $ 60 million for Health and Human Services and zero for the police.”
DEMOCRATIC MAYOR OF MISSOURI ACCUSED OF BULLYING DEFENSE POLICE PROTESTERS AFTER READING NAMES, PARTIAL ADDRESSES IN LIVESTREAM
Krewson then, according to the River Front Times, read the name of the person and the street he lived on, adding that the person “does not want the police, nor the money to go to the police.”
He added: “I agree with all these things, by the way, except that we are not going to take all the money from the police,” he said. “I think we need our police department.”
He apologized Friday for the comments, saying he had no intention of intimidating anyone.
“Tonight, I would like to apologize for identifying the people who presented me with letters and comment cards at City Hall, as I was answering a routine question during one of my updates today,” he said. “While this is public information, I never intended to cause distress or harm to anyone. The post has been removed and again, I sincerely apologize.”
And Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, District Attorney David Prater was convicted by many, including the United States Civil Liberties Union, after he filed charges against several protesters who were involved in the violence that erupted in Oklahoma City in late May, according to The Oklahoman. The publication reported that the charges included serious terrorism offenses, riots and assaults, and that Prater made harsh comments about the people involved in the violence.
“This is not Seattle,” said Prater. “We are not enduring this illegality here.”
Prater’s charges and statement prompted the ACLU of Oklahoma to rip Prater apart in a statement released Saturday.
“The invocation of Oklahoma County District Attorney Prater of the Oklahoma Counter-Terrorism Act against people protesting the death of George Floyd is an abuse of power,” said Michael Redman, acting legal director of the ACLU of Oklahoma. “The impeachment decisions are, at best, inflammatory and, at worst, deliberately unconstitutional. It is a subtle attempt to stifle freedom of expression by overloading people with anti-terrorist behavior and the implicit threat that you too can face terrorism charges simply for being present during a protest. “
MAYOR OF MINNEAPOLIS, JACOB FREY, RELEASED THE PROTEST AFTER REPORTING REPRESENT HIMSELF TO THE DEFENSE POLICE
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was one of the first local officials to face a backlash from “Defund the Police” earlier this month after he would not support calls from city council members and activists to dismantle by the Minneapolis Police Department completed. Frey was asked point blank if he would support the dismantling of the police department while addressing a crowd of protesters.
“I don’t support the total abolition of the Minneapolis Police Department,” says Frey.
“Very well, then get the shit out of here,” the protest leader yelled at him. “Let’s go.”
Last week, the council voted unanimously to remove the city’s statute mandate to maintain a police department, the first step in its plan to replace it with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention, “which will have the responsibility to prioritize public safety services a holistic approach to public health, ”said a draft of the amendment.
BETWEEN REST, BLACK LIFE MATTER AND OTHER SOCIAL JUSTICE GROUPS SEE THE FUNDRAISING FUND
While the most widespread protests, which in the early days coincided with violent riots, mainly in large cities and mainly after dark, despite many protests being peaceful, have decreased since late May and early June, activists They have capitalized on the wave of public opinion to extract action from politicians everywhere, from the White House to the city hall. They have also seen huge windfalls to raise funds, as people have been eager to contribute to causes like Black Lives Matter and bail funds, which fight racial inequality and police brutality.
A GoFundMe page associated with the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles chapter, for example, had been in existence since 2018 and in early June had raised around $ 615,000. In less than four weeks, it shot up to more than $ 2.4 million.
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And the National Bail Fund Network, which essentially serves as a directory for local groups that help disadvantaged people pay bail, has seen their organizations raise more than $ 75 million in recent weeks, according to a spokesperson. Over a three-week period, the spokesperson says, “Many individual bond funds have seen a 100-200-fold increase in annual fundraising amounts from last year.”
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran, Danielle Wallace and Adam Shaw, and Stephanie Pagones of Fox Business contributed to this report.
