Protesters formed a human barricade in front of New York City’s City Hall building Tuesday night ahead of a city council vote on the NYPD budget.
A protester told the people forming the barricade that if they are afraid of the police, they need to go home. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Protesters Expand ‘Occupy City Hall,’ Descend Into Infighting And Stand Off With Police)
More and more people are quickly arriving. The man with the megaphone is saying to “go the fuck home” if those who have promised to stand against police at the front lines are afraid. pic.twitter.com/rLgyQSBCzy
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) July 1, 2020
“If you show a sign of fear,” he said, while the hundreds of people in the crowd chanted his words back to him, “and are afraid … go the fuck home.”
“We are here to protect everyone,” he continued, “and to keep the police out.”
“I wanna put my foot on his fucking neck like he do us,” he said, referring to a police officer. “I wanna put my foot on his back like he do us. I wanna hang him from a fucking tree like he do us.”
“I wanna put my foot on his fucking neck like he do us. I wanna put my foot on his back like he do us. I wanna hang him from a fucking tree like he do us.”
This was directed at the cops. pic.twitter.com/HSMI4ZQFoe
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) July 1, 2020
The man again reminded people that if they are afraid, they should go home.
Protesters later asked for more people to come help form the human barricade, adding that it should be “white people first.”
A guy just yelled for more people to help with forming a human barricade.
“White people first!” he added. pic.twitter.com/R7z0NSMIm7
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) July 1, 2020
The demonstrations are part of the “Occupy City Hall” protests where people took over a block of the street outside of City Hall to demand that the New York City council vote to cut $1 billion or more from the NYPD’s budget. The city council is set to vote Tuesday night.
Protesters clashed with each other as they attempted to expand the occupied area Tuesday morning, and reporters were harassed while trying to film in the area.
Two statues of George Washington were defaced Monday when protesters reportedly threw red paint at them. The city later washed off the red paint.
