Mayor Eric Adams urged those who protest against ICE raids in New York City to do so peacefully, stating that the New York City Police (NYPD) is ready to keep order in the Grand Apple.
During a press conference at the end of the afternoon of June 9, the mayor said that the city and the NYPD will always guarantee peaceful protests, but that they will not tolerate any violent burst like those seen during the weekend in Los Angeles. Although most of the protests in California have been peaceful, President Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, allegedly to maintain peace.
“NYC will always be a place to protest peacefully, but we will not allow violence or chaos,” Adams said with the NYPD commissioner, Jessica Tisch, during the press conference transmitted from the City Council. “The scaling of protests in Los Angeles in recent days is unacceptable, and will not be tolerated if you try to replicate in our city.”
Adams and Tisch were accompanied by the head of the NYPD department, John Chell, and the first public security vice mayor, Kaz Daughtry, who spent an afternoon with President Donald Trump in his golf course in Bedminster, NJ, this weekend, as Daughtry shared in his LinkedIn account.
Tisch explained that, by law of the city, municipal officials do not participate in the application of civil migratory laws.
“But I want to be absolutely clear: we have no tolerance for violence,” he said. “We have no tolerance for property damage. We have no tolerance for people blocking buildings, vehicle tickets or prevent cars from moving.”
He also emphasized that the department will not tolerate attacks against police officers: “Any attack against forces of the order will receive a quick and forceful response from the NYPD.”
Tisch, who claimed to be in contact with federal officials in relation to the protests, explained that the NYPD will be ready if the demonstrations scaled in NYC.
“All NYPD resources are available and prepared to respond,” said the commissioner. “We will maintain public order, and we will do it according to the law.”
Tisch did not detail what tactics the NYPD would use, but said the department “knows how to handle protests maintaining public security and respecting the law.”
Mayor Adams urged all protesters to follow the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of his 1963 book, entitled “Why We Can’t Wait”: “Non -violence is a powerful and fair weapon that cuts without hurting and ennobles the man who holds her. It is a sword that cures.”
“In the search for justice, we must choose the sword that cures,” Adams concluded.
