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George Floyd: New York police filmed ramming protesters as New York City mayor Bill de Blasio blames protesters for ‘inappropriate behaviour’

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has provided a reason why New York police rammed protesters with a car in shocking footage.

Jack Gramenz and Matt Young
2 min read
May 31, 2020 - 10:40PM
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New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has blamed protesters for “inappropriate behaviour” after footage showed New York police ramming protesters with their cars during protests against police violence and systemic racism.

The incident occurred about 8pm in Brooklyn on Saturday.

The 27-second video, posted to Twitter, shows a crowd throwing objects at an NYPD truck.

Protesters appeared to block one NYPD trucks with a movable barrier and began hurling objects like traffic cones and water bottles.

Another SUV then pulls alongside and begins driving into the protesters, prompting the first police vehicle to do the same.

Screaming and yelling can be heard but it is unclear if there were any injuries.

It prompted a response from U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeting: “NYPD officers just drove an SUV into a crowd of human beings. They could’ve killed them, & we don’t know how many they injured. NO ONE gets to slam an SUV through a crowd of human beings. @NYCMayor these officers need to be brought to justice, not dismissed w/ ‘internal reviews.’”

Mayor de Blasio blamed the protesters whom, he claimed, were “simply out there to cause violence and hatred towards our police officers.”

Despite his support for the NYPD, de Blasio confirmed the incident is now under investigation.

In response to reporters during a hastily called press conference in New York City, Mayor de Blasio said the officers weren’t to blame and were only responding to threats.

“I’ve seen that video … and it’s inappropriate for protesters to surround a police vehicle and threaten police officers,” he said.

“That’s wrong on its face and that hasn’t happened in the history of protests in this city. I’ve been watching protests for decades, people don’t do that and so it’s clear that a different element has come into play here who are trying to hurt police officers and trying to damage their vehicles.

“If a police officer is in that situation they have to get out of that situation. The video was upsetting and I wish the officers hadn’t done that but I also understood that they didn’t start the situation, the situation was started by a group of protesters converging on a police vehicle, attacking that vehicle, it’s unacceptable.

“The officers had to get out of that situation … but what I want to see is we get these violent protesters off the streets because the every day people of New York City don’t do this.

“In a situation like that, it’s a very very tense situation and imagine what it would be like just doing your job then you see hundreds of people converging upon you.

“I’m not going to blame officers who were trying to deal with an absolutely impossible situation,” he said.

“The folks who were converging on that police car did the wrong thing to begin with, and they created an untenable situation,” he said.

“I wish the officers had found a different approach, but let’s begin at the beginning. The protesters in that video did the wrong thing to surround that police car, period.”

Protests have been going on in America for several days now after the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky in March, and many more black Americans killed by police in the past.

At another protest in California, a Jeep flying a USA and a Trump flag drove into protesters.

Originally published as George Floyd: New York police filmed ramming protesters as New York City mayor Bill de Blasio blames protesters for ‘inappropriate behaviour’

Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/george-floyd-new-york-police-filmed-ramming-protesters/news-story/f84c906d77de733ae0d6fcd4aadf62df