NEW YORK (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo held a news conference to give an update on the state’s response to the nationwide protests over police brutality and George FLoyd’s death.
Watch the governor’s remarks in the player above.
Thousands of demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd remained on New York City streets on Tuesday after an 8 p.m. curfew put in place by officials struggling to stanch destruction and growing complaints that the nation’s biggest city was reeling out of control night by night.
Mayor Bill de Blasio had doubled down on a citywide curfew, moving it up from 11 p.m. the night before, but rejected urging from President Donald Trump and an offer from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to bring in the National Guard.
The police department announced it would allow no vehicle traffic south of 96th Street in Manhattan after curfew, though residents, essential workers, buses and truck deliveries were exempt.
“We’re going to have a tough few days. We’re going to beat it back,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said in announcing that an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew would remain through Sunday.
Protests had resumed Tuesday during the day over the death of Floyd, a black man who died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.
People marched in groups of thousands in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, as merchants boarded their businesses. As the the curfew time arrived, many were still in the streets and continued marching, with officers initially standing by and letting them.
But officers started ordering people to move along, and began taking people into custody. Demonstrators who had been on the West Side Highway in lower Manhattan were herded off, with parts of the roadway blocked off behind them.
“Something has to break, and it’s not going to be us,” said Evan Kutcher, one of hundreds of demonstrators who stood outside the Barclays Center chanting Floyd’s name Tuesday evening.
“We’re here because something needs to change. We hear Cuomo and de Blasio everyday saying what’s happening is unacceptable but with no actionable plan from them.”
While de Blasio insisted the city would put a stop to the violence and vandalism that have marred largely peaceful mass demonstrations surrounding Floyd’s death, both the Republican president and the Democratic governor laid into the city’s handling of the mayhem thus far.
The violence had left smashed storefronts in midtown Manhattan with Macy’s flagship store among those hit. A police sergeant was hospitalized after being hit by a car in the Bronx, where people tread Tuesday between broken-into buildings and a burned-out car on the Grand Concourse, a commercial thoroughfare.
“The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job last night,” Cuomo said at a briefing in Albany. “Look at the videos. It was a disgrace.”
He said the mayor was underestimating the problem and the nation’s largest police force wasn’t deployed in sufficient numbers, though the city had said it doubled the usual police presence.
Cuomo’s remarks infuriated the New York Police Department’s highest-ranking uniformed member, Chief of Department Terence Monahan. Officers are “giving their blood to keep this city safe,” he told the New York Post, adding that he’d been hit by a bike and bloodied himself while arresting suspects Monday night. Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi later said the governor “has respect and confidence in the NYPD” and felt the mayor should put more officers on the streets.
Unprompted, Cuomo brought up the possibility of using his power as governor to replace the mayor and deploy the National Guard over de Blasio’s objections, then immediately shot down the idea as legally impractical and unnecessary.
On Twitter, Trump urged a 7 p.m. curfew and National Guard deployment in his native city.
“The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart. Act fast!” he wrote.
But de Blasio said the NYPD was “best equipped” to handle the lawbreaking, arguing that bringing in the National Guard risked fueling worse conflict in a city on edge.
“We will regret it if we bring outside armed forces,” he said. “When you bring in people not trained for the circumstance but still with loaded weapons and put under horrible stress, really bad things happen.”
The mayhem over the last four nights has clearly challenged the 36,000-officer police force, which has a reputation as a muscular, well-resourced agency that has driven down crime and faced down terror threats in the nation’s biggest city.
On Monday night and early Tuesday, police again struggled to keep up with, let alone get ahead of, roving groups of people bashing their way into shops, including Macy’s flagship Manhattan store.
De Blasio said the city had expected problems farther downtown, as had happened the night before, and “adjustments were made” once officials realized that the hot spots had shifted.
Nearly 700 people were arrested overnight, and several officers were injured. A sergeant was struck by a hit-and-run driver in the Bronx and was hospitalized in serious but stable condition, police said. Video also showed a group of people hitting a police officer with pieces of wreckage until he pulled his gun and they ran.
Villeneuve reported from Albany. Contributing were Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Jim Mustian, Tom Hays, Deepti Hajela and Karen Matthews in New York and Michael Hill in Albany.
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