If you still believe in any great danger from the bug, ask yourself why.
De Blasio backs George Floyd protests despite coronavirus gathering ban.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday welcomed peaceful mass protests in the Big Apple over the police-involved death of George Floyd — even as he has staunchly barred other demonstrations, religious gatherings and fined small businesses $1,000 for reopening.
“I want to just say anyone who wants to protest, we’re going to protect your right to protest, but please also respect [that] the cop in front of you did not create the problem,” de Blasio said on WNYC radio’s “The Brian Lehrer Show.”
He was referring to the hundreds of activists who gathered in Lower Manhattan Thursday — in violation of the city’s pandemic lockdown rules — in the latest national demonstration sparked in the days since a handcuffed Floyd, who was black, died after a white police officer held him to the ground with a knee to his neck in Minneapolis.
While many protesters in the city wore protective face masks, they largely flouted social-distancing rules.
Over 70 demonstrators were arrested including for criminal possession of a weapon and assaulting officers.
De Blasio urged the NYPD to go easy on the activists.
“I want to see a light touch because people are undeniably angry for a reason,” he said.
De Blasio said nothing about the demonstrators violating city and state rules against large gatherings, even though he insisted earlier this month that rallies “spread the disease and help kill people.”
In early May, nine protesters pushing for the Empire State to reopen from its coronavirus lockdown were busted outside City Hall for not obeying social distancing guidelines.
At the time, Blasio said gatherings, including the small reopen protest, are prohibited.
“We’re not allowing any kind of gathering, period,” the mayor said at a press briefing.
“I don’t care if it’s 20 people or a hundred people or a thousand people, it’s not going to be allowed. So the point is, if you gather, NYPD is coming there to give you a summons and if you resist, to arrest you, period, across all communities.