After the protest against police violence, the outrage turned to violence – in New York there was looting. The city is now tightening the curfew. It is valid from 8 p.m.
The city of New York is reacting to renewed, sometimes violent, mass protests against racism, discrimination and police brutality by extending the night curfew. Up to and including Sunday, only systemically important professionals are allowed to leave their homes between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. (local time), said Mayor Bill de Blasio. Previously there was a curfew from 11 p.m. on Monday, but many demonstrators ignored it. The Los Angeles district also extended its curfew, there it even applies from 6 p.m.
The protests in the metropolis were “mostly peaceful” on Tuesday night, said De Blasio. However, there was also another looting, the authorities said. “These protests have power and meaning,” wrote the mayor on Twitter. “But as the night goes on, we see more and more groups using them to provoke violence and destroy things.” Governor Andrew Cuomo was appalled. “Last night was not good,” said Cuomo at his daily press conference on the corona crisis. The police in New York did not do their job.
New York was “torn to pieces”, wrote US President Donald Trump on Twitter and blamed “looters, thugs, the radical left and all other forms of lowly living beings and scum” for it. The curfew had to start at 7 p.m. and the National Guard had to come to the rescue, demanded Trump. But Governor Cuomo rejected this offer. Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio stressed that the New York police force, which is well-staffed, could get things under control on their own.
The photos showed that on Tuesday night, among other things, windows were smashed and looted at the well-known Macy’s department store in Manhattan and at numerous luxury shops along Fifth Avenue and Broadway. There were protests in the other districts as well. Police helicopters circled over the metropolis all night.
The African American Floyd was killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis last week. Protests subsequently spread throughout the country, leading to riots and looting in numerous metropolises. Before New York, at least 40 cities in the US had already imposed night curfews, including the capital Washington
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