NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended the police department’s response to a pro-Palestinian street demonstration in Brooklyn over the weekend, calling video of officers repeatedly punching men laying prone on the ground an “isolated incident.”
“Look at that entire incident,” Adams said on the “Mornings on 1” program on the local cable news channel NY1. He complained that protesters who marched through Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge section on Saturday had blocked traffic, spit at officers and, in once instance, climbed on top of a moving city bus. “I take my hat off to the Police Department, how they handled an unruly group of people.”
“People want to take that one isolated incident that we’re investigating. They need to look at the totality of what happened in that bedroom community,” Adams added.
The NYPD will ensure everyone’s safety during peaceful protests.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 20, 2024
We will never tolerate any unlawful, illegal, and non-peaceful protests. NYC residents demand peace and reject unlawful behavior in any form.
We will not accept the narrative that persons arrested were victims,… pic.twitter.com/LRv1pWYlLC
Footage shot by bystanders and independent journalists shows police officers responding to a march in the street, moving participants toward the sidewalk and arresting multiple people. Officers can be seen striking blows to at least three protesters, in separate incidents, as they lay pinned on the ground.
At least 41 people were arrested, police said.
The NYPD later released a video showing misbehavior by protesters, including people throwing empty water bottles at officers, splashing them with liquids and lighting flares and smoke bombs. It also showed one protester sitting on the roof of a moving transit bus waving a Palestinian flag.
“We will not accept the narrative that persons arrested were victims, nor are we going to allow illegal behavior,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said in a statement on X.
The City Council member who represents Bay Ridge, Justin Brannan, said the demonstration broken up by police was one held annually in the neighborhood to protest the displacement of Palestinian people following the establishment of Israel in 1948.
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