By Shant Shahrigian
New York Daily News
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) After rampant looting Monday night when the curfew was set at 11 pm, the Mayor announced that curfew has been moved up to 8 p.m. and will remain that way for the rest of the week.
New York
New York City’s curfew will continue through Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday, as he came under fire for a night of chaos and looting in the Big Apple.
A curfew went into effect Monday night at 11 p.m., with the mayor’s office initially saying it would be for one night only. But the change comes after the measure failed to curb rampant looting in Manhattan and elsewhere.
“We’re going to have a tough few days. … We will find a way through,” de Blasio said, adding that the NYPD would get extra resources as needed.
But Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed the mayor and the NYPD’s handling of the chaos.
“I think the mayor underestimated the scope of the problem,” he said at an Albany news conference. “I think he underestimated the duration of the problem. I do not believe they have used enough police”
While President Donald Trump has called on states to send in the National Guard, Cuomo voiced reluctance to make the move, saying it would amount to “displacing” the mayor.
“Legally … can you displace a mayor? Yes, a mayor can be removed,” the governor said. “It is a bizarre thing to try to do in this situation. It would make a bad situation worse. Also, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
De Blasio said neither the National Guard nor military should be deployed to the city, rejecting Trump’s Monday assertion that he would deploy active-duty troops if state and city leaders can’t contain protests.
“If you bring outside armed forces … that is a dangerous scenario,” the mayor said, adding that such forces lack the training to engage civilians and would unnerve communities.
The curfew will take place from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. The city is still on track to begin “phase one” of reopening next Monday, according to the mayor.
“We need to reopen this city,” he said. “We have a lot to do to get ready. We need to get back to that discussion, too.”
He called on community leaders to “come to the fore,” saying, “Do not let looters … do not let criminals, do not let gang members, do not let anarchists get to call the shots.”
The NYPD arrested about 700 people for looting, attacking police officers and other offenses on Monday, according to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. He said the incidents mostly occurred from 23rd St. to the 50s, along with parts of the Bronx. There were also reports of looting in the Union Square area.
During the chaos, reporters observed looters coming and going out of stores without getting arrested. But de Blasio rejected the characterization that the thefts occurred with impunity.
“There is no such thing as being able to loot with impunity,” he said. “I am so sick of these efforts to mischaracterize reality.”
However, Cuomo voiced fury at the events.
“It was rampant looting across the city that they did not stop and that was their job,” he fumed.
The mayor took a testy tone throughout his own press conference.
“Is it going to be solved overnight? No, guys,” he said. “I would like people to pay attention to how things really work. This will take time to work through.”
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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
