Day 4: marchers made their way from union square now passing McCarren Park, vibe is peaceful, place chooses overhead, but few NYPD here
Vibe is peaceful, mostly white, people looking on from balconies and roofs of nice Williamsburg condos cheer in support.
Still peaceful moving south through south Williamsburg, many people I’ve talked to said they joined the march when they saw people passing by whereever they were. Many said this was first March they’ve been at this week.
Omar Yusuf’s mood is exhubetant, he’s encouraging drives to honk their horns, but the reason he’s here is horrifying. Two days ago, he says, a police officer pointed a gun at him when he was trying to film a police encounter.
And NYPD have arrived, marchers demanding to be let through along Bedford.
Chants of peaceful protest erupt, and soon Line or NYPD clear the way.
And they’ve taken Atlantic Avenue nearing Barclays, this guy is playing Les Miserables from his loud speaker.
Another police blockade, more chants of peaceful protest. NYPD officers clear the way, and at Barclays now, adding hundreds to the numbers already there.
Hundreds have arrived at Barclays now, some from as far as Union Square they’re met by one guy who is tossing them bottles of water.
Hundreds, if not more, have now converged here at Barclays. #NYCPROTEST
.@JumaaneWilliams addresses the crowd in the center of Barclays Center crowd, he says he’s asking the mayor to tell the NYPD to let people through.
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Outside PS 17 in Williamsburg, kids chant, “we support asylum seekers but not on school grounds.”
There’s a lot of parents talking about how afraid they are, some have pulled their kids out of school. There are a few moms from the local Communtiy Education Council who disagree with the protest but they get heckled by the crowd.
Marzena Wolert (right) is walking by protest and says she’s “disgusted” “they’re fleeing war and they don’t have a home and you’re not gonna have your gym?” She’s confronted by another woman leaving the protest as she walks by.
Attorney @GloriaAllred with Sherry Vill, who says NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, "suddenly grabbed her face and kissed her in front of her home," in 2017.
Allred says after the press conference they plan to contact @TishJames office with the allegations. Members of her family who saw the kiss, Allred who found it, "very surprising" and "not appropriate."
Vill says Cuomo came to her town of Greece, New York when her home flooded in 2017. Cuomo asked to tour her flood-damaged home she shares with husband and kids. Cuomo forcibly kissed her on the cheek several times, and said "you are beautiful."
Do you dispute anything in the @hrw report that found NYPD violated international human rights law on June 4 when they trapped protesters and violently attacked them with batons and pepper spray, @BrianLehrer asks @NYCMayor who predictably replies, "I have not not read it yet...
"We've got to get the objective facts and that why a full investigation has to be done," @NYCMayor continues..@BrianLehrer pushes back, "it's October have you figured out whether the NYPD misbehaved or not..."
"It's not my personal review," @NYCMayor says saying its up to the law department and the Department of Investigation. "So I'm waiting for their conclusions."
.@NYGovCuomo calls this the “largest cluster” is that we’ve seen before speaking about Rockland, Orange Counties and Brooklyn.
Gov Cuomo says the state must “stamp out all these embers” immediately,” he says local governments are the first line of defense. “Attack these clusters, that’s what it is, testing and compliance.”
“A cluster today is community spread tomorrow,” says Cuomo, says he’ll be meeting with Orthodox religious Jewish leaders, saying the its a fact that there’s overlap with the top zip codes for COVID infections and orthodox Jewish community.
“We need solutions for this new time,” @NYCMayor says outside the new COVID testing laboratory at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, where city aims to process 20,000 tests a day.
“Public health is economic health,” @NYCMayor says, he says he will outline the pillars of the city’s recovery today.
City is launching a rapid testing design competition, Mayor says.
Riding around Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s old haunts today. Someone left sunflowers outside her childhood home in midwood.
Diana and William Brenneisen have lived here for nearly 40 years, they learned RBG grew up here shortly after that. “She did so much for us, Diana says, “she’s really going to be missed.”
There’s a pop up memorial outside James Madison High school RGB attended. Two public school teachers were there.