A estimated crowd of 200 people gathered and marched peacefully through the streets of the Bronx on Saturday, May 30 to protest the mistreatment of Black citizens by police, as other weekend protests in Manhattan and Brooklyn took a different turn and resulted in injuries to both protestors and police officers.

 

The Bronx protest was one of many which took place in more than twenty major cities across the nation this week after a viral video, recorded by a bystander on May 25 in Minneapolis, captured African-American, George Floyd, apparently suffocating during an arrest by police.

 

The video shows a police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for approximately eight minutes and ignores his pleas, even as he says, “I can’t breathe”.

 

In New York City, Bronx demonstrators gathered at East 148th Street and Third Avenue in the Hub area of the Bronx for Saturday’s protest, which was organized by various faith-based and community-based groups.

 

Derrick, a member of the Progressive Labor Party and an employee of the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, told the crowd, “This problem is bigger than just one case, just one murder. This is about systematic racism. They’ve created this system that they profit off of.”

 

Organizers of the rally had demonstrators chant, “They say get back! We say fight back!”. The majority of both the demonstrators and the speakers wore masks, making it difficult to hear them, at times.

 

An unidentified speaker told the crowd, “We’re standing in solidarity today with the Minneapolis uprising right now. We want justice not only for George Floyd, but for Sean Bell, Breonna Taylor and Amadou Diallo. Every single person that has been murdered by the police with no punishment, no accountability, because the police have a license to kill”.

 

Breonna Taylor, 26, an African-American emergency room technician from Louisville, was killed on March 13, 2020 during a narcotics raid at her home as reported by The New York Times on May 30.

 

Sean Bell, 23, died after being shot by police in New York City 13 years ago, as reported by New York Amsterdam News, while Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant, died at the hands of police in New York City on February 4, 1999, as reported by The City.

As speakers continued to address the crowd, Councilman Fernando Cabrera, the only local politician in attendance, began an interview with a News 12 reporter. Moments later, a demonstrator interrupted the interview, and confronted Cabrera, who listened and tried to interact with him. However, the demonstrator, who appeared angry, refused to listen.

 

“We’re tired of these people,” the unidentified demonstrator said. “Cabrera you ain’t (expletive),” he added as he walked back to the crowd. He also called the councilman a “homophobe”.

 

A second demonstrator, who did not witness the entirety of what transpired between the first demonstrator and the councilman, defended the first protester’s anger, telling Cabrera, “It’s out of frustration. When anger takes over, the anger is real”.

 

The first demonstrator later returned to the scene of the interview and asked the second protester, “You siding with him? I’m just saying, you should know it’s politics, and it’s really (expletive)”. The first protestor then walked away again, calling Cabrera “a sellout” as he did so.

 

One of the organizers of the demonstration, Revered Louie Negron, told the crowd just before the march began, “In our community right now, where we are, has the highest rates of death of COVID-19, right here where you’re standing. Two blocks from here at Lincoln Hospital people are dying right now because of the inequality that took place.”

 

Another unidentified speaker told the crowd, many of whom were carrying signs, “The system is not broken. The system is doing exactly what it was designed to do.”

 

Speaker Scott Larock Jr., told protesters, “We’re not here for violence. We’re not here to steal. We’re not here to take from each other. We’re here for our voice to be heard”.

 

Informing the crowd that they would be marching to the Bronx County Courthouse, Larock said, “And when we get to the front, they’re going to hear our voice. We’re not here to hurt our community. We’ve got to live here”.

 

Another unidentified speaker said, “These are our streets. We built this. We can’t destroy what we’ve built because if we destroy it, they’re not going to rebuild it for us. They will come back and buy it for half the price and drive us out”.

 

The crowd then marched down Third Avenue and stopped at the NYPD’s Public Service Area 7 on Melrose Avenue, and at the 40th precinct on Alexander Avenue, before heading to the Bronx County Courthouse.

 

Police reported no major incidents involving protesters in the Bronx, even as violent clashes were reported in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and across the country.

 

Cabrera stated after the Bronx rally, “There were no arrests, no violence. It was a peaceful protest”. He added, “There was great coordination between the clergy, activists and the NYPD. It was truly a model on how a protest should take place and let the voice of the people be heard loud and clear”.

 

Some news reports this week showed peaceful protestors, and police peacefully managing the crowds in different cities, while other recordings showed both police and civilians carrying out acts of violence.

 

And while some protests appeared to descend into looting, and the burning of police vehicles and buildings, investigations into the origins and perpetrators of the violence are ongoing.

 

In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz said on May 30 that 80 percent of the rioters in Minneapolis were from out of state. Some are suspected to be from both far left organizations and white supremacist groups.

 

The National Guard was deployed to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota, and later to Los Angelus.

 

As night fell in New York City on May 30, NYPD’s Chief of Department, Terence Monahan tweeted, “We’ll always welcome protesters who want to peacefully express their views. When violent individuals throw bottles, rocks and cause serious injuries to our officers, we will make arrests”. He added, “There is absolutely no tolerance for violence”.

 

Videos uploaded to social media showed two NYPD vehicles ploughing into protestors in Brooklyn, while others showed police officers acting aggressively towards protestors, and pushing one female to the ground.

 

Police cars drive through crowd in #Brooklyn #NYPD pic.twitter.com/4vthqlAuoL

— Christian Mitchell 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@MitchellCMM) May 31, 2020

 

Meanwhile, NYPD announced on May 30 that charges were to be brought against multiple people involved in an incident where a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a police vehicle occupied by four police officers. Other videos show civilians throwing objects at police and police vehicles.

This is the moment Samantha Shader put 4 officers lives in danger when she threw a Molotov cocktail into their car. Thankfully it didn’t explode but she could’ve killed them. She is now charged with attempted murder. Her sister is charged with resisting arrest. pic.twitter.com/18QBfYGfr7

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 31, 2020

 

Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres appeared to call out Mayor Bill de Blasio in the context of the protests, tweeting, “America’s largest city has no mayor”.

 

On Sunday, May 31, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea reported that more than 300 arrests took place during the protests in New York City on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Shea also reported that 30 officers were injured. Meanwhile, NYPD reported that 15 police vehicles were destroyed.

 

On Sunday, May 31, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York State Attorney General Letitia James will conduct a 30-day probe into any police misconduct during the recent protests in the City.

 

Meanwhile, De Blasio announced on Sunday, May 31 that Corporation Counsel James Johnson who leads the New York City Law Department, and Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett would also conduct an independent review of the NYPD’s handling of the protests.

 

As a backdrop to the nationwide protests, an ICU nurse in Florida warned, during an interview with MTV News, broadcast on May 29, that the country is still in the midst of a pandemic, even as states begin to reopen, and reminded the public that the crisis is not yet over.

 

And we’re dealing with all of this while fighting a global pandemic. Lawd. https://t.co/acrUUbmGit

— Dometi Pongo (@Dometi_) May 29, 2020

 

More protests were expected to continue on Sunday.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed additional reporting to this story.