New York Gov Andrew Cuomo blasted Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD for failing to stop looters from running rampant through the streets of New York City late on Monday into early Tuesday under the cover of the protests over George Floyd’s death.
“The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job last night. I believe that,” said Cuomo in an Albany press briefing Tuesday. “The police in New York City were not effective in doing their job last night. Period.
“They have to do a better job.”
Despite there being nearly 8,000 cops mobilized and 11 p.m. curfew enacted in an attempt to head off a fifth straight night of violence, open looting and vandalism spread in Lower Manhattan, Midtown, and The Bronx Monday and Tuesday.
The governor said that de Blasio “underestimates the scope of the problem,” and should “use 38,000 [NYPD] cops” — the entirety of the department’s force — to quell the unrest, calling the results to date “inexcusable.”
Cuomo, as de Blasio and others have, drew a sharp distinction between peaceful protesters “rightly outraged” over the death of Floyd — a black man who died May 25 after white Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck — and anarchy-minded agitators steering the demonstrations towards violence.
“They have no right to wrap themselves in the flag of righteous indignation of Mr. Floyd’s murder,” said Cuomo.
De Blasio earlier Tuesday announced that an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew would be in effect for the city through Sunday, even though Monday’s curfew accomplished little in the face of the fiery riots.
VIA: NY POST
