[ad_1]
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Dozens of protesters were arrested during a violent confrontation with police Monday in Lower Manhattan.
What started as a peaceful march in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. turned into a tense standoff by City Hall.
The NYPD said police arrested 28 people, including a minor. There were no known injuries to protesters.
At least eleven officers suffered minor injuries, including a captain who was hit in the helmet with a bottle.
Video showed intense moments as police tried to get a control of the situation. One officer was seen pushing a person to the ground.
The chaos started after hundreds of Black liberation protesters marched over the Brooklyn Bridge and were met by police. Officers warned the crowd to move out of the street, but protesters did not, and officers seemingly pushed into the crowd to make arrests.
Bicycles and barricades were knocked around, and some people were dragged away by officers with zip-ties.
This all happened as Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared in a pre-taped interview about police reform.
“The same way we got rid of stop-and-frisk, the same way we retrained our police force in de-escalation and implicit bias and put body cameras on all our officers, let the elected leaders of this city continue the reforms which we’re deeply committed to,” he said.
PROTESTS AND POLICE REFORMS
It also comes as New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced last week a lawsuit against the NYPD for its use of excessive force at Black Lives Matter protests this past summer.
“The complaint outlines and speaks to the fact that 30 incidents involved the use of pepper spray, 50 incidents in which officers used batons, 75 incidents in which protesters were punched or shoved,” she said last week.
In December, a report by the Department of Investigations showed the NYPD has made a number of key errors with large scale protests.
Among the findings:
- The NYPD lacks a clearly defined strategy to respond to large scale protests
- Police use excessive force that heighten tensions
- Cops lack sufficient training
Everyone arrested in Monday’s incident has been released. Most were charged with disorderly conduct or obstructing traffic.
There was no known property damage, except for graffiti.
MORE FROM CBS NEW YORK
[ad_2]
Source link
