'Black Lives Matter' activists continue to demand justice, major policy change
Nationwide demonstrations continue through Labor Day weekend as calls for justice and policy change continue across America; Alex Hogan reports from New York.
A woman who participated in protests in Portland, Ore., was one of the eight arrested for rioting in New York City on Friday after a three-hour window-smashing rampage inflicted an estimated $100,000 in damages from Manhattan's Foley Square up to 24th Street.
Jade O'Halloran, 30, from Brooklyn, was arrested and charged with rioting and two counts of weapons possession. She was then given a desk appearance ticket to appear in court at a later date and was released, according to the New York Daily News.
O’Halloran told the newspaper she had returned to New York to attend school after spending all summer in Portland “washing faces of tear gas and bear mace when people are screaming in agony.”
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“And then I come here and it’s like, ‘Oh, this violent Antifa breaking windows’ and it’s so not true. I didn’t come here for this. I came here for school,” she said. “What they said is so not true, I cannot shout that loud enough from the rooftops.”
From after Memorial Day and now approaching Labor Day, Portland has seen a three-month stretch of violent confrontations between demonstrators and local and state police and federal officers, who spent weeks protecting targeted government buildings until the state’s Democratic leadership agreed to intervene.
The New York City Police Department said eight people were arrested around 8:15 p.m. Friday at two locations near E. 24th St. and Madison Ave., and E. 22nd St. and Fifth Ave. Officers said they recovered two Tasers from O’Halloran’s front pocket and backpack. Crowds also tossed smoke bombs at officers, as demonstrators smashed the windows of businesses and spray-painted graffiti.
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At least 150 protesters flooded the streets of Manhattan Friday night in response to the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died in March in Rochester, N.Y., after police placed a hood over his head and held him down. His brother had called for help after Prude began acting erratically. Video of the encounter was made public last week, giving new attention to the incident from months ago.
A large crowd of Black Lives Matter supporters gathered for a rally in Times Square Friday.
Black Lives Matter demonstrators gathered at Times Square to protest President Trump and Vice President Pence in New York City on September 4, 2020. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
But one demonstration organized Friday elsewhere in the city that night also called for “amnesty for all” protesters and demanded the charges against anyone arrested in the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor “uprisings” be dropped. Thousands were arrested in New York City over the summer amid the civil unrest, according to Newsday, though it's unclear how many remain in custody.
A flier circulated on social media read: “No Good Cops, No Bad Protesters.” It instructed people to gather at the Manhattan Courthouse on Centre Street at 6 p.m. The event was sponsored by the New Afrikan Black Panther Party and Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement.
Social media posts showed a Starbucks and banks Chase and Wells Fargo “redecorated” with “abolitionist messages” such as ACAB, the acronym meaning “All Cops are Bastards.” Those marching through the street held a sign that read: “Free All Political Prisoners,” according to tweets posted by an activist called Ash Agony.
Among those arrested Friday was 20-year-old Clara Kraebber, who the New York Post identified as the daughter of a wealthy Upper East Side architect and a Columbia University child and adolescent psychiatrist. Kraebber could face up to four years in prison for the federal rioting charge, according to the outlet. She was also charged with misdemeanor vandalism.
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The other six arrested for rioting included young adult men and women from Brooklyn and Manhattan, Newsday reported.
