‘KEEP THE PEACE’
On third day of rage, some Finest take knee in show of solidarity
War raged — but there was a moment of peace.
Thousands amassed around the city for a fourth straight day Sunday to protest the policeinvolved death of George Floyd, while at one corner in Queens, NYPD members took a knee in a remarkable gesture that for a little while, at least, bound cops and demonstrators.
Video and photos show Deputy Inspector Vincent Tavalaro dropping to one knee on Jamaica Ave. at Parsons Blvd. alongside several other officers around 12:45 p.m.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!” a woman yells as cheers erupted.
Tavalaro, commanding officer of the 103rd Precinct, replied with nods as the crowd chanted, “Keep the peace!”
The officers then were ringed by protesters and knelt again as the crowd recited the names of black victims of police brutality.
“We need more of this, to see and hear each other, to work together, to recognize that our differences are our strength,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted about the encounter.
The mood was dramatically different hours later, as thousands gathered and both cops and shopkeepers braced for the third night of violence. Looters again rampaged in SoHo, with more than two dozen stealing clothes and running through the streets with the loot.
“Get out, they’re here!” one young man screamed as police showed up, scattering the thieves, one of whom was wielding a pipe. Cops managed to arrest one looter whose arms were full of swiped clothing on the corner of West Broadway and Broome St.
“Suck my d—k,” one looter yelled from across the street while the cops were arresting the man. “Try me, try me,” a white-shirted sergeant screamed back.
Another young looter hugged three shoeboxes In his arms — outrunning cops who gave up the chase after five blocks. He ditched the shoes after the first block of pursuit.
The NYPD set up barricades and businesses such as Saks Fifth Avenue boarded up windows as a massive crowd that filled both Union Square and Bryant Park took a winding route through Manhattan.
Once at Times Square, four police officers, all nonwhite, dropped down to one knee in solidarity with the protesters, as the group cheered them in a scene similar to one that played out in Queens earlier.
Jade Hayslett, 16, of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, said it was her first day at the protests, and that she’s “fighting for black lives, for police to stop hurting us.”
“Because for years we’ve been going through this, and I think people think it’s a oneday thing and that’s it. But I refuse to stay silent, I refuse it,” the teen said, adding that she doesn’t agree with the looting.
By Sunday night, hundreds of marchers converged on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn to march toward the Brooklyn Bridge, one frustrated driver trying to get home to downtown Brook
lyn rolled down the window, and conceded: “I don’t mind.”
“I think if it’s done peacefully, it’s the right thing to do. If I gotta wait for a few minutes or longer I’ll take it,” she said, declining to give her name. “We’re living in rough times.”
Eric Puckett, 24, a black man born in Houston who now lives in Newark, tried to pull away a youngster who was taunting police.
“We are having a peaceful protest,” Puckett scolded. “We are not doing anything ignorant or belligerent. We are out here protesting for lives lost. We are not insinuating violence. We are not even promoting it.”
“This is about a black peaceful protest,” he added. “Everyone is in this protest, but it’s about black lives being taken unjustly by corrupt police.”
“Think before you act,” he lectured, before breaking away to grab another youngster who was pulling out a can of spray paint.
Protests on Saturday night turned violent and chaotic, particularly in Brooklyn and Manhattan, leading to 345 arrests, 33 cops injured and 47 police vehicles damaged. The NYPD’s tactics came under fire as well, after disturbing videos were posted to social media that showed several clashes between demonstrators and cops, including a police SUV driving through a throng of protesters in Brooklyn.
“I think it was horrifying. That’s exactly why people are out here. Because cops are the ones that protect us, and they’re driving vehicles into people voicing protest,” said Dawoud Abdur-Rashid, 24. “We’re descending into totalitarianism.”
Abdur-Rashid of Brooklyn joined the crowd at Bryant Park, remarking that “it’s easy to forget why we’re here.”
“They’ve been violent and combative,” he said, referring to police. “When it comes to violence, I’m kind of neutral. It’s definitely effective in some cases. In some cases it’s necessary.”
About 1,000 protesters, who were guided by a group of bicyclists at the front, headed downtown from Bryant Park to around 35th St., then turned east and marched back uptown onto Fifth Ave. They turned right before Trump Tower and headed to Times Square, where the group had swelled to thousands.
One man lit a firework, but was quickly admonished by the crowd around him.