Although Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that the NYPD is ready for “all kinds of challenges” within hours of the presidential election, business owners fear violent protests preparing to deal with the possibility of looting and rioting.
De Blasio said he understands the fear of store owners, especially those on Fifth Avenue in Midtown and other commercial corridors.
“We have no specific reports or specific threats at this time,” he said. “Everyone, of course, is concerned about the election results and what happens next. But I want to emphasize, at this point, we don’t see a specific challenge.”
Large-scale protests have gripped New York City throughout 2020, some culminating in looting and destruction of property. De Blasio himself warns of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric fueling intimidation and violence at voting centers.
The NYPD reported that the uniforms will guard the more than 1,200 voting centers in the Big Apple. Terence Monahan, head of department, said in recent days that hundreds of uniformed officers are trained to deal with any contingency.
But some fear that the large police presence could generate a negative reaction throughout the city, depending on how events unfold.
The protests in May and June after Georg Floyd’s death were characterized by clashes between protesters and police officers, fueling the unrest, and police unions made public their support for President Donald Trump, although Monahan claimed that officers are apolitical.
NYPD officers were retrained in crowd control and have practiced what they learned in various settings, Monahan said.
De Blasio indicated that the situation will depend on how the Election Night unfolds.
“It is obvious that we will know more during Election Night. A close election is one thing, a not so close election is another,” he said. “How the vote counts continue will tell us a lot, the process, the schedule, what the candidates say, there are a lot of variables, but we will be ready for anything.”
– .
