New York Mayor Bill De Blasio has extended the city’s curfew order amid ongoing protests and unrest over police brutality, imposing another day of travel restrictions after authorities again failed to stop looting and vandalism.
Announcing the move in a tweet on Monday night, De Blasio said Tuesday will see another curfew, this time beginning at 8pm instead of 11pm, noting that “keeping people safe” is his “first priority.”
“These protests have power and meaning. But as the night wears on we are seeing groups use them to incite violence and destroy property,” the mayor said.
Images of vandalism and looting in New York have emerged on social media, mirroring scenes in countless other cities over the last week as protests over the police killing of George Floyd erupt into rioting and mayhem.
De Blasio’s initial decision to impose a curfew from 11pm drew massive backlash online, with netizens reporting that shops and other properties around the city had been looted and vandalized long before the curfew was supposed to take effect.
“What a joke. In the meantime, looters are tearing through the city, busting windows and destroying property while stealing (and have been for hours),” television host and author Jedediah Louisa Bila tweeted.
While many chided the mayor for being too late with the curfew, others argued that the measure would affect workers on late-night shifts, many of them migrants and people of color.
More than 200 arrests have been made so far, according to the NYPD, with a police spokesperson saying “there are packs of youths running as fast as they can, smashing windows as fast as they can, and police are trying to catch them as soon as possible.”
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