NY assemblyman: Disrespect against NYPD has come a long way from last summer's pails of water
New York Assemblyman Mike LiPetri makes the case to restore law and order.
Anti-cop demonstrators wreaked havoc in Lower Manhattan on Saturday night, setting fires and vandalizing several NYPD vehicles.
The chaos and destruction can be seen on video and was meant as a show of solidarity with protesters in Portland and Seattle, according to officials and police sources.
Video of the night’s unrest shows vandals defacing a trio of marked NYPD vans, tagging them with graffiti, slashing their tires and attempting to smash in their windows with a signpost and the wheel of a bicycle.
Another segment of the video shows four demonstrators jumping atop a marked department SUV, one of them holding an inverted American flag with the message “F–k NYPD” scrawled across it in black.
SEATTLE POLICE RELEASE BODYCAM VIDEO OF VIOLENT PROTESTS
Widow of fallen NYPD sergeant on holding ‘Back the Blue’ rally
Lisa Tuozzolo, the wife of a fallen NYPD sergeant, joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’
All told, six marked NYPD vehicles were vandalized.
A few hundred demonstrators assembled at Rivington and Ludlow streets on the Lower East Side, and from there marched toward One Police Plaza, sowing chaos along the way, sources said.
As the night wound on, fires were lit in several street-corner garbage cans, part of a surreal scene that played out as protesters, cops and everyday New Yorkers dining out at restaurants’ outdoor patios crossed paths.
“F–k you, pigs!” one demonstrator could be heard screaming at lines of riot gear-equipped cops in one moment captured on video.
Officer morale plummets after attack on NYPD chief
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and former NYPD detective Pat Brosnan weigh in.
MAN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY DRIVING THROUGH PRO-POLICE RALLY IN COLORADO PARK
Tensions came to a head near Confucius Plaza in Chinatown, where cops played a recorded order to disperse.
“If you leave voluntarily, no charges will be placed against you,” the recording said. “If you refuse to leave, you will be arrested for unlawful assembly.”
More than a dozen people evidently opted for the latter, as at least 18 arrests were made for unlawful assembly, sources said.
The unrest was billed as a show of solidarity with Portland, Ore., a city increasingly marked by violent clashes between demonstrators and authorities — including federal agents deployed by the Trump administration.
Similar chaos on Saturday gripped Atlanta, Seattle and Baltimore.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The nationwide furor was sparked with the May death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis while in police custody. A White police officer was captured on video with his knee on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes.
New York in particular suffered several nights of widespread vandalism and looting in the days following Floyd’s death.
