‘A symbol of hate’: Donald Trump lashes proposed Black Lives Matter mural
Donald Trump has lashed out at plans to paint a Black Lives Matter sign opposite Trump Tower in New York, as police finally moved in to end the anarchy on the streets of Seattle.
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US President Donald Trump has slammed alleged cuts to the New York Police Department and labelled a proposed Black Lives Matter mural a “symbol of hate”.
It comes after New York City lawmakers approved a disputed annual budget that purports to slash $1 billion from the NYPD as calls by anti-racism protesters to defund law enforcement sweep the United States.
“Defund the police” has become a rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted following the killing in custody of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.
Protesters have camped outside New York’s city hall this past week demanding that money be shifted from America’s largest police force to social services to help fight racial injustice.
Late on Tuesday, members of New York’s city council approved the government’s budget for the new fiscal year starting Wednesday that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says cuts the NYPD’s operating budget from about $US6 billion ($A8.67 billion) to roughly $US5 billion ($A7.23 billion) .
The cuts include scrapping the planned hiring of about 1,160 new police officers, as well as reducing overtime costs and redeploying administrative staff.
President Donald Trump lashed out at the cuts and the city’s plan to paint a Black Lives Matter sign outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.
“Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street,” he tweeted.
De Blasio hit back, saying black people “built 5th Ave and so much of this nation.
“Your ‘luxury’ came from THEIR labor, for which they have never been justly compensated,” he wrote.
Some council members argue the budget does not cut $US1 billion ($A1.44 billion) from the NYPD and accuse the government of just moving money around.
They point out that roughly $US400 million ($A478 million) of the cuts come from shifting responsiblity for protecting public schools from the police to the education department.
‘THIS IS A NIGHTMARE’: SHOCKING VIDEO OF SEATTLE VIOLENCE
Police in the US have released chilling video showing shootings, violence and terror on the streets of Seattle in the rioters’ so-called cop-free “CHOP zone” slum.
In the video, armed people can be seen roaming through the area and firing their weapons. At one point, a man is heard to say: “Sorry, I ran out of bullets.”
“More shots fired, I’m running away,” one rioter says. “This has got to be the end of CHOP in my opinion,” he is heard saying after a 16-year-old boy was shot dead. “This second shooting, I think it’s pretty much over after this.
“This is kinda a nightmare.”
The Seattle Police Department released the four-minute open-source video on Twitter as they finally moved in to reclaim the CHOP zone and restore order.
Some of the violence in and armed individuals in the CHOP have been captured by open source video recorded in the area: https://t.co/PCTaMtqntr
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) July 1, 2020
Dozens of arrests were made as they cleaned out the shocking shanty town which had emerged across a few blocks in the centre of the once-proud city in the midst of the George Floyd riots, although police said most people left willingly.
Seattle police took back the East Precinct station house after clearing out the protest area known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, making more than a dozen arrests after Mayor Jenny Durkan declared the gathering an unlawful assembly following two fatal shootings.
Police issued the order to disperse around 5am local time Wednesday, telling protesters to leave within eight minutes. At least 31 protesters were arrested for failure to disperse, obstruction, resisting arrest and assault, police said.
The East Precinct station house, which police abandoned last month following stand-offs and clashes with demonstrators, was cleared of protesters, Police Chief Carmen Best told reporters from inside CHOP. Best said police were not moving into the building yet.
“Our job is to support peaceful demonstration but what has happened on these streets over the last few weeks is lawless and it’s brutal and bottom line it is simply unacceptable,” Chief Best said.
City workers were dismantling wooden and concrete barriers while police remained on the scene. Chief Best said police and other city organisations will clean the area and the precinct before beginning operations as soon as reasonably possible.
Police also investigated several vehicles circling the CHOP zone after officers saw people inside them carrying firearms and wearing body armour. The vehicles had no visible license plates, police said.
Mayor Durkan’s executive order comes after a series of late-night shootings in the area killed two teenagers and seriously wounded three other people. Police said other violent crimes have been documented in the area since demonstrators took over several blocks in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood last month.
“Officers enforcing today’s order are wearing a higher-level of protective gear,” police said. “Police are using this equipment because individuals associated w/the CHOP are known to be armed and dangerous/may be associated with shootings, homicides, robberies, assaults & other violent crimes.”
Chief Best said that while she supports peaceful demonstrations, “enough is enough.”
“The CHOP has become lawless and brutal,” she said.
“Four shootings – two fatal – robberies, assaults, violence and countless property crimes have occurred in this several block area.”
Chief Best said that it was the job of police officers to protect and serve the community, adding that the clearing of the protest would not mark an end to the department’s engagement with protesters.
“We must continue our efforts to build trust and redefine our roles as guardians in our city.”
NEW YORK STRIPS $A1.5BN FROM POLICE BUDGET AS VIOLENCE SOARS
The unpopular Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, has been lashed by Republicans as well as his own Democratic party for his mind-boggling move to “de-fund” the New York Police Department.
The measure was passed late Tuesday night local time. But in yet another sign of Mr de Blasio’s poor standing even in his own party, left-wing Democrats said the “de-fund” failed to go far enough.
His moderate Democrat colleague and New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, was among the many people to ridicule the move.
“I don’t know what it means,” Gov Cuomo said. “What does that mean? Does this mean I am less safe? Where did you take the billion dollars from? Does it mean I am more safe? Does it have any effect on police abuse? I don’t know what it means.”
New Yorkers were dumbfounded by the move amid news violent crime rates have soared in the city in 2020.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said it wouldn’t be long before the cries for more police back on the streets was deafening.
He also said the ongoing anti-police campaigns were encouraging record numbers of officers to take retirement.
“You’ll see in the City Council, a bow to mob rule,” Commissioner Shea said. “And let’s mark the date on the calendar and how long it’s going to be before we’re having a conversation about New York is crying out for more police. And I think that day has come.”
The city has seen a recent spike in shootings. Last week’s total shooting tally more than doubled compared to the same period last year.
NYPD will lose 1000 cops under the cuts.
Mayor de Blasio touted the “profound change” in the budget, noting that the city is “taking money from the police and putting it into youth initiatives,” while also taking other measures, such as “getting rid of solitary confinement in our jails.”
“We have to be in a constant place of reform,” said the Mayor.
Meanwhile, a new video shows a journalist being attacked outside City Hall on Wednesday morning — as dozens of Occupy City Hall protesters in New York rallied outside after the City Council passed its budget, with politicians shifting $A1.5 billion from the NYPD.
The video, shared on Twitter, shows a demonstrator wrestle with someone after going after a TV crew.
#CityHallProtesters Why are protesters in front of city hall attacking photographer and reporters if we are there to tell your story. This kind of ridiculous behavior is how messages get loss. Especially the fact, that he is genuinely a great person. pic.twitter.com/5PWT5KxqYF
— Marvin Hoffman (@theeye74) July 1, 2020
It’s unclear what led to the escalation, with the video only panning to the struggle when it was already underway.
“Why are protesters in front of city hall attacking photographer and reporters if we are there to tell your story. This kind of ridiculous behaviour is how messages get loss. Especially the fact, that he is genuinely a great person,” Marvin Hoffman tweeted with the video.
New York is on the way to get its very own Seattle-style shanty town near City Hall.
BLACK LIVES MATTER MURAL TO BE PAINTED OUTSIDE TRUMP TOWER
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio says a “Black Lives Matter” mural will be painted in front of Trump Tower “in a matter of days” – sparking a furious response from the Commander-in-chief.
Mr De Blasio unveiled plans for the words to be painted down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue – just meters from Mr Trump’s former home.
“Whenever Trump comes back to his old state (New York), he’ll get a message that he still doesn’t understand. Maybe seeing outside his doorstep will help him get the point,” Mr de Blasio grinned.
Mr Trump didn’t take kindly to the Mayor’s taunt, taking to Twitter to lash out at the failed presidential candidate.
“NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue,” the President blasted.
“This will further antagonise New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the horrible BLM chant, ‘Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon’. Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralised and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!”
BAIL SET FOR WHITE EX-COP ACCUSED OF KILLING BLACK AMERICAN
A US judge has granted bail to the former white Atlanta police officer facing the death penalty for shooting and killing black American Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s fast food joint parking lot – if he can come up with $A750,000 as security.
Garrett Rolfe, who was fired from the Atlanta Police Department shortly after the June 12 killing of Brooks, will be required to turn over his passport if he has one, wear an ankle monitor and be subject to a curfew from 6pm to 6am.
He is also ordered not to have any contact with current Atlanta police officers, with members of the Brooks’ family or any potential witnesses in the case, or to possess any firearms.
Prosecutors with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office argued if Rolfe were to be released from jail, he would pose a threat to skip out on future court proceedings.
Judge Jane Barwick disagreed, saying there were “convincing factors in front of me … that he does have sufficient ties to the community and he is not a flight risk.”
Shortly after the bond was set, L. Chris Stewart and Justin Miller, attorneys representing the Brooks’ family, issued a statement expressing they were “disappointed” with the bond.
“While the family of Rayshard Brooks is disappointed that his killer was granted bond today, they understand that this is just one step in the long quest for justice for Rayshard,” the statement read.
Rolfe is facing felony murder and 10 other charges in the fatal shooting of Brooks, a 27-year-old black man. Rolfe faces a possible sentence of life without parole or the death penalty if convicted.
During the proceedings, Tomika Miller, Brooks’ widow, was asked by prosecutors to provide an impact statement to the court.
“I’m Rayshard’s widow, I never thought I’d be saying that right now,” Miller said as she fought through tears and sobs.
“My husband wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t deserve to die,” she said.
In the end neither the prosecution nor the defence team got everything they wanted. The prosecution asked the court for no bond, but should one be set, that it be no less than $A1.5 million “with conditions.”
Rolfe’s lawyer wanted bail set at just $A75,000.
TRUMP VOWS TO ‘TRACK DOWN ANARCHISTS’ WHO DESTROY STATUES
US President Donald Trump vowed his government is “tracking down the two anarchists” who threw blood-red paint on two famous George Washington statues in New York City.
“We are tracking down the two Anarchists who threw paint on the magnificent George Washington Statue in Manhattan. We have them on tape,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“They will be prosecuted and face 10 years in Prison based on the Monuments and Statues Act. Turn yourselves in now!”
A pair of masked vandals threw balloons full of red paint at the statues built into Washington Square Park’s famed arch in Manhattan.
Washington Square Park, NYC. pic.twitter.com/PEidU4Njw8
— BILL HEMMER (@BillHemmer) June 29, 2020
The two suspects, one man and one woman, were caught on tape fleeing on bikes after defacing the statues. They also used white spray paint to draw outlines of 24 bodies around the park’s fountain, with red paint balloons on the heads to make them appear as if they’d been shot.
NYPD officers took away a cooler, which had been used to carry the balloons, and other evidence left behind at the scene to check for fingerprints.
The city parks department scrubbed away at the arch. “This does do damage — you can see bits of the statue all over me,’’ a worker said as he went through a third round of cleaning the structure with a citrus-based solution and a powerwasher.
“It’s marble — it comes off,’’ he said.
Last week, someone painted “slave owner” on a statue of Washington in Manhattan’s Union Square Park.
We are tracking down the two Anarchists who threw paint on the magnificent George Washington Statue in Manhattan. We have them on tape. They will be prosecuted and face 10 years in Prison based on the Monuments and Statues Act. Turn yourselves in now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2020
In the wake of nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd, protesters have moved beyond the destruction of Confederate statues to those of Founding Fathers, many of whom owned slaves or garnered criticism for their treatment of Native Americans, and even some statues of prominent abolitionists.
Trump has gone to battle for the statues, repeatedly threatening vandals with long prison sentences and last week signing an executive order to protect monuments.
“I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues – and combating recent Criminal Violence,” Mr Trump tweeted.
“Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!”
The new order is meant to enforce laws prohibiting the desecration of public monuments, the vandalism of government property, and recent acts of violence. It withholds federal support tied to public spaces from state and local governments that have failed to protect public monuments, and withdraws federal grants for jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies that fail to stop their desecration.
DATE SET FOR GEORGE DLOYD FOUR COPS TRIAL
A Minneapolis judge has set the trial date for four ex-police officers charged in the murder of African-American George Floyd for March 8, 2021, making clear he did not want the sensitive case to become a media circus with the presidential election looming.
As the protests over racial injustice continued to reverberate nationwide, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill warned the four, their attorneys and state officials not to play the sensitive case through the news, even as one lawyer pointed out that President Donald Trump had already weighed in.
“I would like to see pre-trial publicity not include statements from family from either side, police or elected officials” about guilt or innocence, or the merits of the case, he told a court.
Derek Chauvin, the white officer filmed on May 25 pressing his knee into the handcuffed 46-year-old’s neck for nearly eight minutes until he became unresponsive, faces second and third-degree murder charges.
Three others who were with Chauvin, 44, when they detained Floyd are charged with aiding and abetting a murder. None of the four formally entered pleas.
Chauvin, whose bail has been set at $1 million, appeared via video from the Oak Park Heights prison wearing an orange jumpsuit and a coronavirus mask.
The other defendants – Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane – appeared in person.
The four, who were fired from the Minneapolis police force one day after Floyd’s death, each face up to 40 years behind bars.
Cameras were not allowed in the court.
Robert Paule, defending Tou Thao, one of the three charged with abetting the killing, said his client would plead not guilty, arguing that he adhered to police guidelines on use of force.
But Paule also expressed concerns over prejudicial comments and actions by state and national officials that could impact the trial.
“In this case, we have comments made, I believe, by President Trump,” as well as Minnesota’s governor, the mayor of Minneapolis, the Minnesota Attorney-General and others, Paule said.
He noted that Minnesota Attorney-General Keith Ellison, whose office is leading the prosecution, and US lawyer Erica MacDonald met Floyd’s family in Houston, adding that the trip was leaked to the press.
Paule said more publicity could lead to a push for a change of venue.
Eric Nelson, the lawyer for Chauvin, said he might demand the judge legally order people involved to remain silent.
“If such public statements continue, I’ll be seeking a gag order,” Nelson said.
At the hearings, Thomas Plunkett, Kueng’s lawyer, filed a motion asking for the judge to reconsider allowing cameras to be used.
A motion said: “Cameras are essential so that the public can see the impact of the state’s statements on the proceedings and to insure confidence in the results.”
“This case is a very important case for the State of Minnesota and the rest of the country. The impact of this case has been felt worldwide,” the motion continued.
The judge set the next procedural hearing for September, with all parties needing to assemble a massive amount of evidence.
Prosecutor Matthew Frank, an assistant Minnesota Attorney-General, said so far there are more than 8000 individual pages of discovery and hundreds of audio recordings and photographs date-stamped in the case.
GUN-WIELDING COUPLE BEING INVESTIGATED
The St. Louis couple caught on video brandishing guns in the front yard of their home while protesters passed through their private neighbourhood are being investigated by local law enforcement, according to a report on Fox News.
Mark McCloskey, the 63-year-old homeowner seen in the now-viral video holding a black rifle, said in a recent interview he, his wife and his home were threatened by a fringe group that accompanied protesters marching to the mayor’s nearby home.
“There were people wearing body armour. One person pulled out a loaded pistol magazine, he clipped them together and said, ‘You’re next,’” Mr McCloskey told the Today show in the US.
“We were threatened with our lives, threatened with the house [being] burned down.”
A couple in St. Louis pointed guns at protesters as hundreds of people made their way into an upscale private neighborhood.
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 30, 2020
Two homeowners say they were just trying to protect their property and their family, but one official vows to hold them accountable, @miguelnbc reports. pic.twitter.com/LqWEnacueL
Video shows Mr McCloskey holding the black, long gun, and yelling, ‘Private property. Get out now.’”
The footage continues to show Mr McCloskey’s wife, Patricia, at times pointing a handgun at protesters.
The crowd grew “enraged” after he told them to leave his property, said Mr McCloskey. But Daniel Shular, a photojournalist who said he witnessed the encounter, described in an interview how the situation “went to another level” when Mr McCloskey grabbed the gun.
US Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner issued a statement characterising what happened differently, saying her office was working with police to investigate the confrontation.
“I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault,” Ms Gardner said.
“We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated.”
No charges were filed against the couple as of Tuesday morning (local time).
The McCloskeys called the St. Louis Police Department shortly before 7.30pm on Sunday (10.30am AEST), according to an incident summary provided to Fox News by the department. They told arriving officers that they heard a “commotion,” then “observed a large group of subjects forcefully break an iron gate marked with ‘No Trespassing’ and ‘Private Street’ signs.”
But the video shows the protesters walking through the gate, which did not appear to be damaged at the time.
“Once through the gate, the victims advised the group that they were on a private street and trespassing, and told them to leave,” the police summary further states.
“The group began yelling obscenities and threats of harm to both victims. When the victims observed multiple subjects who were armed, they then armed themselves and contacted police.”
Based on the couple’s account, police called the incident a case of trespassing and assault by intimidation, according to the incident summary. No other police reports were filed that night, a department spokesman told Fox News.
Al Watkins, a lawyer for the McCloskeys, said the protest was largely peaceful and the pair did not bring their guns outside the home until two men in particular, both of whom were white, started menacing them.
The couple, he said, was hesitant to come forward with the full story out of fear that they would “disparage the importance of Black Lives Matter.”
“At the time, their fear was, these people, two in particular, that were marching along with the Black Lives Matter protest participants – all peaceful. They were acting in a fashion inconsistent with the message being given,” Mr Watkins said.
“My clients were not arming themselves against peaceful protesters, they were arming themselves about people with a really bad motive, a motive that runs afoul of the fundamental tenets of our country.”
Mr Watkins said the McCloskeys have each practised law for more than 30 years and “their practices have included, on an ongoing basis, representing individuals in pursuit of protection of their civil rights.”
“One hundred per cent of my client’s clients in those cases have been people of colour,” Mr Watkins said.
JOHN WAYNE’S SON DISMISSES ‘RACIST’ CLAIMS
It comes as movie legend John Wayne’s son has lashed out at calls to dump his dad’s name from a California airport, insisting his dad “was not a racist” — and would even have “pulled those officers off of George Floyd” were he alive.
Ethan Wayne told Fox News that it would be an “injustice” to rename John Wayne Airport in Orange County because of a 1971 interview in which his father said he supported white supremacy and dismissed the pain of slavery.
“Let me make one thing clear — John Wayne was not a racist,” the actor’s 58-year-old son told the network, according to a report in the New York Post.
Ethan Wayne cknowledged the “pain and anger” caused by the bigoted words in his dad’s 1971 Playboy article, but said it was an “injustice to judge him based on a single interview” where his “feelings were wrongly conveyed.”
“The truth is … he did not support ‘white supremacy’ in any way and believed that responsible people should gain power without the use of violence,” Ethan told Fox.
“He called out bigotry when he saw it. He hired and worked with people of all races, creeds, and sexual orientations.
“John Wayne stood for the very best for all of us — a society that doesn’t discriminate against anyone seeking the American dream.”
In fact, his dad — who was 72 when he died from cancer in 1979 — “would be in the forefront demanding fairness and justice for all people” if he were alive today, his son insisted to the network.
“He would have pulled those officers off of George Floyd, because that was the right thing to do. He would stand for everyone’s right to protest and work toward change,” he told Fox.
“The current focus on social justice is absolutely valid and necessary. But attempts by some to use it for political advantage distracts from real opportunities for reform,” insisted Wayne, the president of John Wayne Enterprises.
In his damning Playboy interview, John Wayne had said, “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.”
“I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or 10 generations ago these people were slaves,” he also insisted.
As a part of the trend to remove memories of America’s racist past, leaders of Orange County’s Democratic Party used the almost-50 years old interview to campaign to dump his name from the area’s airport.
“An international airport that serves millions of people each year should not be named for someone who, in real life, opposed our nation’s values of opportunity and justice for all,” Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, said in a statement. “Now is the time for change.”
The airport was renamed in his honour in 1979 — the year he died — and a statue of Wayne was also erected on site in 1982.
KANYE’S NEW VIDEO INCLUDES PROTEST IMAGERY
Meanwhile, Kanye West has released a new song, Wash Us in the Blood, along with an accompanying video including imagery from recent US anti-racism protests.
The new track, the first released from the born-again rapper’s planned 10th album God’s Country, features lyrics with heavily biblical overtones, in line with his musical turn to Christianity in recent years.
The song appears to refer to recent civil unrest over persistent police killings of black Americans, also mentioning mass incarceration and alluding to endemic poverty.
The video includes footage of Breonna Taylor — a black woman who police shot dead after forcibly entering her home on a no-knock warrant — as well as scenes from recent protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd and West’s Sunday Service rehearsals.
Rapper Travis Scott features on Wash Us in the Blood and legendary producer Dr Dre mixed the track.
The visual was directed by Arthur Jafa, who has previously collaborated with West and shot videos for stars including Jay-Z and Solange.
Protesters in New York. Picture: AFP