From Fox News:
Mayor Bill de Blasio blamed the uptick in violence over the weekend on the coronavirus pandemic, while defending the city’s latest policing reforms and vowing to keep New York City “the safest big city in America.”
De Blasio held a press conference Monday after a weekend of violence across New York City that left at least eight people dead and more than 44 people shot and injured.
“I want to talk about what happened this weekend. Many were out there celebrating, but we saw too much violence, and we have a lot of work to do to address it,” de Blasio said, while adding that “there is not one cause for something like this.”
“This is directly related to coronavirus,” de Blasio said. “This is a very serious situation… As we’re getting into warmer and warmer weather, we’re feeling the effects of people being cooped up for months, the economy hasn’t restarted – we have a real problem here.”
De Blasio vowed to “double down” to address the violence, which included shootings in Brooklyn, the Bronx and upper Manhattan, noting that it was going to take “neighborhood policing” and cooperation from clergy and elected officials.
“This is all hands on deck,” de Blasio said, while adding that the city has “been dealt a really tough hand.”
Read the full report here.
DE BLASIO SPIRALS: 2 NYPD Shot, 1 Stabbed, Mayor Says Protests Remind Him of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’
Two members of the NYPD were shot in Brooklyn overnight Monday and another officer stabbed in the neck as protesters defied an 8pm curfew imposed by beleaguered Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“The melee unfolded when a suspect approached a cop on Church Avenue near Flatbush Avenue at about 11:45 p.m. and stabbed him in the neck, a police source said,” reports the New York Post.
Meanwhile, the mayor faced a growing backlash after saying the violent situation reminded him of John Lennon’s utopian anthem ‘Imagine.’
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: "I don't mean to make light of this but I'm reminded of the song 'Imagine' by John Lennon." pic.twitter.com/ElerZgB2y3
— The Hill (@thehill) June 3, 2020
“I don’t mean to make light of this. But I’m reminded of the song ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon. We played it at my inauguration! What about a world where people got along differently? What about a world where we didn’t live with a lot of the restrictions that we live with now,” said De Blasio. “We’re not there yet. The protest movement themselves is how we make progress!”
Read the full report at the New York Post.
DE BLASIO SPIRALS: Embattled Mayor Says Spike in CoVID Hospitalizations Has Nothing to do With Protests
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters he would be “surprised” if a recent spike in CoVID-19 hospitalizations was related to the ongoing George Floyd protests taking place in all five boroughs.
“I would be surprised if that’s what’s causing it,” de Blasio said Friday. “I think we’re much more likely in the next week [or] 10 days to see a manifestation, if there is one.”
“It is dangerous to be close together,” he admitted. “I don’t like that.”
Watch Bill de Blasio get Booed at a George Floyd Memorial.
How embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/iaEzWStJNP
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) June 4, 2020
“If you were at one of those protests, I would, out of an abundance of caution, assume that you are infected,” Governor Cuomo said Thursday. “One person, one person can infect hundreds if you were at a protest.”
Read the full report at Fox News.