NYC mayor takes heat over protest
De Blasio defends his appearance at events held in Germany in opposition to the G-20 summit.
NEW YORK — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to participate in a protest rally in Hamburg, Germany, during the gathering of the Group of 20 drew sharp criticism back home from conservatives who denounced him as caring more about his feud with President Trump than his hometown.
De Blasio was the keynote speaker Saturday for an organization called Hamburg Shows Attitude and opened his talk with a spirited defense of the right to protest. “In America, we have a phrase we like to use: This is what democracy looks like.’’
The criticism of the mayor came mostly from Trump supporters, including the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., as well as from Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican who is challenging De Blasio for the mayor’s seat in November. She blasted him as having abandoned the city, tweeting a Photoshopped picture of the mayor, who is of German and Italian heritage, behind a plate of German wursts.
“Euro Trash,” read a headline Saturday in the New York Daily News, which referred to De Blasio as the “Burgermeister,’’ German for mayor.
A columnist for the conservative New York Post wrote, “When the mayor of the capital city of global capitalism hops a plane to protest the G-20 meeting now underway in Germany, it’s not unreasonable to wonder: Will he be wearing a Guy Fawkes mask today — or his Che Guevara T-shirt?’’
It didn’t help that a New York police officer, Miosotis Familia, was shot and killed while sitting in a police car early Wednesday, hours after Fourth of July fireworks.
In an interview with WNYC radio, De Blasio said he accepted the invitation to speak in Hamburg only after finding out that the policewoman’s funeral would take place July 11 and that he would be back in time to attend. He also said that it was part of his duties as mayor to redouble efforts to fight climate change and to resist Trump’s campaign against illegal immigration.
“I think it was incumbent on me as the leader of the biggest city in the country to set a tone and to say we’re not going to be intimidated by President Trump and we’re not going to turn away from our values,’’ he said in the radio interview.