Cleared anti-racism protest camp in New York

New York police have cleared a camp of anti-racism protesters outside the city hall. “It was time to act,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said today. Police chief Dermot Shea said there had been no clashes between protesters and officers.

The New York police were accompanied by cleaners and lawyers as they dismantled tents in the Occupy City Hall camp and drove around 50 demonstrators away. The camp was established a month ago in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality. The protests were triggered by the violent death of the African American George Floyd in a police operation in Minneapolis in late May.

In the past few weeks, the protests in the camp had become less and less, said de Blasio. Instead, it has “increasingly developed into a meeting place for the homeless”. As the anti-police protests in New York subsided, pressure on the authorities to disband the camp and remove graffiti on statues and nearby city buildings had increased.

Trump also threatened to send federal police officers to New York and other cities ruled by Democratic Party politicians.

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