Hong Kong Leader Addresses UN Human Rights Council as Criticism Mounts Over Beijing’s Security Law
Not since 1996 has the City of New York seen so many people shot in the first four weeks of June.
The NYPD counted 250 victims between June 1 and June 28—an increase of nearly 160 percent from the same period last year.
The shooting spree comes amid protests and riots sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man, during his arrest in Minneapolis in May. The protests have at times turned violent, fueled by Marxist and anarcho-communist radicals such as Antifa and organizers of Black Lives Matter.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responded by announcing a $1.5 billion cut to the NYPD budget, angering the local police union.
“Even right now, the NYPD doesn’t have enough staffing to shift cops to one neighborhood without making another neighborhood less safe,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said in a June 29 statement.
“We will say it again: the Mayor and the City Council have surrendered the city to lawlessness. Things won’t improve until New Yorkers hold them responsible.”
The budget cut is partly due to revenue shortfall caused by the economic shutdown imposed by the city and state in response to the CCP virus epidemic.
Officially, gatherings of 10 or more people are still banned in the city, but the local government hasn’t enforced it against the protesters. In fact, the mayor and other local politicians have cheered them on.
On June 28, the union posted a video on Twitter of an NYPD car being pelted with what looked like bottles and trash thrown from a crowd in the streets.
“Police officers responding to a shots fired job in Harlem last night were met with this,” the union commented, saying de Blasio and the City Council “should be held responsible for surrendering our city.”
The Mayor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The City Council passed the budget cuts on June 29, acknowledging in a statement that about $500 million in NYPD funding will de facto only move on paper, such as by moving school safety officers from the NYPD to the Department of Education.
The budget talks have been accompanied by hundreds camping out in protest in City Hall Park and demanding police defunding.
Organizers have called it “Occupy City Hall”—a nod to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement a few blocks away in Zuccotti Park.
The group directed its demands—scrawled on colorful placards, a canvass of graffiti and a massive poster taped over a subway entrance—at de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
“We’ve done different levels of escalation to make sure we’re getting their attention,” said Jonathan Lykes, one of the organizers. “If they defund the police by $1 billion then we have won—but that’s only our demand this week.”
Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) denounced the NYPD cuts.
“Billion $ cut to NYPD Budget is indefensible. Shootings are up. Police do great job. War against cops increases. Main victims will be innocent, hardworking people in minority communities. Time to stand with Men and Women in Blue!!” he said in a July 1 tweet.
For Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) the cuts don’t go far enough.
“Defunding police means defunding police. It does not mean budget tricks or funny math,” she said in a statement, Fox News reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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