Cities across the United States are starting to feel the financial pressure from weeks of anti-police protests; with demonstrators costing local governments tens of millions while demanding cuts to their law enforcement agencies.
“All told, the unruly demonstrations following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery could make it one of the costliest displays of civil disorder in U.S. history. In many places, the financial fallout comes as cities and states have drained their coffers trying to fight COVID-19. The end result for these cash-strapped cities could put them millions of dollars in the red and struggling for years to get out,” reports Fox News .
“In Minneapolis, costs related to the protests could hit higher than $500 million. In Portland, Ore., nearly 80 nights of destruction have caused the liberal locale $23 million and counting. In Chicago, a city that’s seen soaring crime rates and corruption at the highest levels, the damage done from the protests has not only hit high-end retailers but crippled hundreds of mom-and-pop stores trying to eke out a living,” adds the website.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said his government could be forced to fire 22,000 workers should the federal government refuse to bail out the Big Apple.
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.