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Thank you to @NBCnewyork for interviewing me about the @NYPDnews instigated riot I witnessed while I was dining at @CowgirlNYC in the West Village on Saturday. I feel the need to elaborate on my soundbite and share some footage. (thread) #BlackLivesMatter 
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/police-rush-arrest-nyc-protesters-on-west-village-sidewalk/2638299/
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/police-rush-arrest-nyc-protesters-on-west-village-sidewalk/2638299/
I was eating dinner with my boyfriend Brandon and our friend Will when a large battalion of police (maybe 40-50) started assembling at the station across the street.
Several minutes later, a small group of #BlackLivesMatter protestors, maybe 30 tops, walked up Hudson st and very briefly stood in the middle of the street chanting. They were entirely peaceful. Many of the diners cheered for them.
protestors, maybe 30 tops, walked up Hudson st and very briefly stood in the middle of the street chanting. They were entirely peaceful. Many of the diners cheered for them.
They then moved to the sidewalk and the adjacent traffic island. At no time were the protestors blocking the sidewalk for pedestrian traffic, however, New York’s finest started blasting a recorded message at the protestors stating that they were and were at risk of arrest.
When the protestors didn’t disperse, the police advanced their line right to the table we were sitting at, using their bikes as a barricade. They swarmed the entire eating area kettling the protestors in with us. All… 15 of the protestors at this point?
The @NYPDnews claim that there were 120 protestors when this incident occurred. That is a lie. That is an absolute flat-out lie.
As this footage I shot shows, the police were behaving really well (ahem)... screaming at protestors and making the situation incredibly unsafe and violent for everyone involved.
Here’s footage of the only arrest that I saw made. Please note that the man arrested was black. There were white protestors too, I didn’t see any of them get arrested. As the police moved to violently arrest this guy, they tripped over each other and into our table.
Great job, #NYPD! Very well trained, very coordinated.
While this was going on, Will was pinned against the wall by a cop holding the line. I was sitting there stunned witnessing a facist dystopia unfold in front of me while I continued to nervously eat my tater tots. Cowgirl makes them really well!
Our waitress (also interviewed for the NBC piece) kept coming outside to check on us. Other frightened tables left the scene without paying their bill, costing the restaurant thousands of dollars.
Considering they’re trying to rebound after the pandemic, it’s very uncool of the NYPD to create an environment so unsafe for these restaurant patrons that they had to flee.
Also - about a quarter of the cops were wearing masks and screaming in protestor’s faces, creating a very unsafe public health situation for all of us.
One protestor asked a cop why he wasn’t wearing a mask. He said “I’m not wearing mine because it has blood on it.” She asked, “who’s blood?” and he walked away.
You can draw your own conclusions who the aggressors were on Saturday night, but for family and friends reading this let me be very clear on my stance on this issue: the NYPD in its current form should not exist and should be abolished.
The NYPD should be replaced with social workers, health care workers, mental health professionals, properly trained criminologists for the big stuff. We should be moving to a model of restorative justice for this city.
There are experts on Police abolishment who are not me who have excellent points on this and I suggest you do your research before engaging with me in conversation about this, because I have done mine.
Here’s an article about abolishment I recommend: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/12/21283813/george-floyd-blm-abolish-the-police-8cantwait-minneapolis
Here’s an article about abolishment I recommend: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/6/12/21283813/george-floyd-blm-abolish-the-police-8cantwait-minneapolis
If you have ever been part of an incident in NYC where you have witnessed a crime being de-escalated by the police, please bring it to my attention. I’m happy to have that dialogue, because I have not.
I said something similar about the police violence situation I witnessed during the March for Queer Lives earlier in the summer and I’m saying it again now: The NYPD treated the protestors, the diners and the workers at the restaurant like we were foreign invaders on their soil.
That’s because it’s the only training they have. The are at war against the citizens of New York.
I was just trying to eat some tater tots with some friends. You brutalized my night NYPD and I know that I emerged relatively unscathed compared to the peaceful protestors you assaulted and the other restaurant patrons you terrified.
I have a lot more footage from Saturday. Legal groups, if you need it feel free to reach out.
TLDR:
