Insecurity in New York takes over the Democratic primary debate

New York, Jun 2 (EFE) .- Insecurity and the increase in armed violence and hate crimes took place on Wednesday the second political debate of the Democratic candidates for mayor of New York, which was held in person and without masks, although respecting the safety distances.
The debate, the last one before early voting begins on June 12, brought together the 8 Democratic Party candidates.
The meeting was not without cross accusations and the current president of the Brooklyn district, Eric Adams, became the main target of the attacks of the rest of the applicants.
The Democratic and Republican primary elections for mayor are held on June 22 (the mayoral elections on November 2), but all eyes are on the Democratic elections, since analysts point out that the name of the new mayor given the liberal tradition of the New York electorate.
The polls carried out so far have mainly favored businessman and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, followed by Eric Adams, whose position seems to have been strengthened recently along with that of Kathryn García, former director of the Department of Sanitation.
Another favorite, city comptroller Scott Stringer, who has lost support following accusations made by a woman of sexual harassment, was also present at the meeting, which lasted two hours.
In one section of the debate, each candidate could throw a question at another candidate of their choice. Four of them tried to put Eric Adams between the ropes, while two questions went to Andrew Yang and another two to Stringer.
Among the candidates, Adams and Yang, the most favored by the polls, showed the most conservative positions, especially regarding the City Police, under scrutiny after the Back Lives Matter movement, which broke out just over a year ago by across the country following the murder of African-American citizen George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer.
New York, like other large cities in the country, has witnessed an increase in violence and especially crimes with firearms since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic.
While many aspirants such as the former adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio Maya Wiley, Stringer or the activist Dianne Morales exposed their plans to tackle security problems by reducing the role of the police, Adams and Yang insisted on the need to increase the number of officers, especially in the metro network of the Big Apple.

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