NEW YORK – In New York City, Election Day has so far been conducted in a peaceful manner and without major mishaps, officials from the New York City Police Department said, (NYPD, for their acronym in English), during Tuesday afternoon.
“There have been no serious or significant incidents reported thus far and we do not expect any to occur,” said NYPD Chief Terence Monahan. “If you have not voted, come out, know that you will be sure if you do,” he added.
During the conference the officials clarified that most of the lines in the voting centers had flowed without problems and that so far everything was going well. They reminded New Yorkers that they could feel safe going out as they would see to it that their right to vote was respected. The uniformed men were at the polls from before 6:00 am, the time the voting began.
For her part, the new head of the city’s Patrol Unit, Juanita Holmes, the first woman in the agency’s history to hold the position, also addressed New Yorkers during the conference and recalled that thousands of police officers will be working to protect New Yorkers during elections and in the days ahead.
“Everything looks good, only one incident was reported, but it’s not that important to share,” Holmes said. “We have a brave team ready to support our democracy and they will be working tonight and for the next few days so that people can feel safe and vote,” he added.
The authorities also stressed that they will also be present if peaceful demonstrations are carried out; however, they say, they have zero tolerance for violence, looting or any type of criminal acts in the city; and that, in the next additional official days they will be ready to respond to any type of incident.
“When you see that there are people who try to make the protest violent, tell them that they will not take your movement, that they do not speak for you,” Monahan said, adding that if things “start to get ugly, it’s time to go “.
Several iconic New York shops and buildings, such as the Empire State Building in downtown Manhattan, have covered their windows with wooden planks for fear of unleashing protests such as those that occurred in late May and early June, when they were dozens of businesses looted in the context of protests that broke out denouncing police violence after the murder of George Floyd.
The New York Police released a few days ago its security plan before, during and after the elections. Among that plan they announced that members of the NYPD will be in all 1,201 voting centers of the five boroughs, 708 of those centers are in public schools, during the day of the elections.
On the other hand, the Guardian Angels organization, o Guardian Angels, an organization that has been in charge of patrolling and policing the city for decades to provide security to citizens, announced that on this day they will have an increase in patrols of their group in the streets as a precaution if riots arise after the elections. More than 400 Guardian Angels will be in Times Square, The Bronx and Soho.
“We are in a stage that could bring a lot of violence, hopefully not, that’s why everyone is taking precautions in case it comes,” says a spokesman for the Guardian Angels organization.
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