De Blasio considers a curfew for NYC as National Guard are put on standby

Mayor Bill de Blasio is considering placing a curfew on New York City after a chaotic night in which looters ransacked luxury stores in Soho, set fire to dumpsters and ran riot through the streets of Manhattan as other, peaceful protests continued across the country over the killing of George Floyd.  

More than 250 people were arrested in New York City on Sunday night and arrests were still being made in the early hours of Monday morning as thieves snatched goods from Chanel and Balmain after smashing their windows to grab what they could before NYPD cops arrived. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio had been criticized for not doing enough early enough to get the situation under control.

On Monday, he said he was considering a curfew after Sunday night’s violence and that he would discuss it with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea earlier said the city did not need to call in the National Guard, as 20 other states have done, and that imposing a curfew would be useless. Shea also said a ‘groundswell’ of civilian support was needed to ‘end the terrible situation we are in’. 

Gov. Cuomo said on Monday that the National Guard was on standby but that he will discuss with de Blasio and Shea if they are needed later.  He suggested that unlike in Minneapolis – where police departments were outnumbered – the NYPD is large enough to cope with the problem but that their tactics failed on Sunday night.  

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Six cops were injured, none seriously, and a man in his twenties was shot in the abdomen after an argument with a different group of young men at 12.30am at Spring Street and Crosby Street. 

Similar scenes played out in cities across the country in a sixth night of riots and protests over Floyd’s death. The unarmed 46-year-old black man died on Monday in Minneapolis after cop Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. 

Chauvin has now been charged with his murder but three other cops involved are yet to face charges. 

His death has sparked a national conversation about racism and police brutality amid a backdrop of a country that had already been shaken by economic uncertainty and public health fears caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Speaking at his press conference on Monday which, until this week, was used to give COVID-19 updates, de Blasio said: ‘To date we have not believed a curfew has been the right strategy but we have to look at it as an option. That being said, we have not made a decision. 

‘There are advantages and disadvantages. Previous nights were different than what we saw last night.’

Commissioner Shea said he was nervous on Sunday night that peaceful protesters and looters would clash in the streets.  

‘I saw doormen, residents coming down trying to aide, the NYPD is a significant part of the story but it’s a ground swell that’s really end this terrible situation that we’re in now.

‘We encourage all New Yorkers to speak up, speak your cause whether you agree or disagree, but do it peacefully and work with us,’ he said.  

Gov. Cuomo said at his press conference – where he announced that fewer than 1,000 people tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday out of 50,000 tested – that he stands with the protesters but that the looters were distracting from the debate.

‘There are no sides here last night was bad for everyone. It accomplishes nothing. We’re losing the moment and not making the political point that the protesters want to make which is a good point. 

‘We have 13,000 national guard who we can use at any moment,’ he said.

He urged people against violence and looting and said they ‘fed into’ a narrative that Conservatives, including President Trump, will push. 

Trump said on Monday that he had ‘no idea’ what was going on in Manhattan but that New York had to ‘toughen up’.  

The looting in Soho happened on Sunday night as; 

• President Trump was whisked to a bunker while protesters descended on the White House, throwing Molotov cocktails and injuring 50 Secret Service agents 
• A protester was reportedly shot dead in Louisville, Kentucky 
• Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter was arrested at a protest in New York City 
• An armed vigilante in California pulled a gun on rioters who tried to hold up a bank 
• Across the country, peaceful protesters tried to stop violent opportunists from ransacking stores 
• In Louisville, protesters formed a human chain to protect one cop who became separated from his unit and outnumbered by crowds 
• Other cops dropped to their knees in shows of solidarity with protesters and some abandoned riot gear to march with crowds peacefully 
• In Minneapolis, a tanker plowed through crowds of protesters on a highway; he was then pulled from the rig and beaten by crowds 
• The NYPD has resisted calls to bring in the National Guard or impose a curfew saying it wouldn’t help 

Cuomo said the way the situation was handled on Sunday night was ‘not acceptable on any level.’ 

‘The national guard we have on standby. They are trained to do this,  but I don’t know that it’s a person power issue in New York City.  In Minneapolis it was a person power… they just don’t have a police force large enough. I don’t know that that’s the situation, that the NYPD isn’t big enough,  I don’t think that’s an issue.’ 

Cuomo said was not ‘at the point’ of issuing a curfew but that it was being considered, adding: ‘Something has to be done. Last night was not acceptable on any level.’   

Commissioner Dermot Shea said earlier, during an interview on Today, that the entire weekend was ‘incredibly challenging’ for cops. 

‘Ninety percent of yesterday went very well. Five or six thousand protesters throughout New York City, less violence as the days before. 

‘The majority of the protesters were peaceful making their point.

‘When it got dark it got ugly and it got ugly quick. We had some violence, we had another incident of an individual with a Molotov cocktail in Brooklyn. 

‘We had an individual, two officers in a marked car in Queens, a bullet hit that car.

‘That’s clearly alarming to us. The looting. The looting turned very quickly in portions of the city, in Brooklyn, and primarily in Manhattan

‘There were hundreds and hundreds of arrests in a very short time in that area and some are still going on. It was a very challenging time for police officers,’ he said. 

Commissioner Shea rejected claims that the National Guard needed to be brought in. 

‘We don’t need the national guard. 

‘We could impose a curfew today and the problem is people need to listen to a curfew and that’s not going to happen,’ he said.  

Shea also said that the NYPD was investigating several incidents in which police officers have been seen allegedly using excessive force when handling the protests. 

In one shocking video that circulated on social media over the weekend, a cop was filmed driving into a crowd of protesters in Brooklyn.

The cop car had been surrounded by crowds when he accelerated into them. The protesters jumped on the roof of the vehicle once it came to a stop again. 

Another disturbing video showed a police officer throwing a woman to the ground violently in the street. 

Shea said both would be looked at but that they represented a handful of incidents among thousands of interactions between the police and the public over the weekend. 

‘Anyone that looks at that has to be troubled by what they saw…In literally tens of thousands of encounters we have about six that our internal affairs officers are looking at in the process of identifying the officers.

‘There’s a couple of other incidents in cars that we released to the media and weren’t shown. 

‘It shows a similar situation where the cop cars are getting attacked and have to basically get out of there as quickly as possible. 

‘It’s a very difficult situation without a good ending either way,’ he said. 

Among the hundreds of people arrested over the weekend was de Blasio’s 25-year-old daughter Chiara.  He insisted she was protesting peacefully and is a ‘very good human’ who had done nothing wrong. 

Chiara was arrested for allegedly not following police instructions to disperse on Saturday night. 

De Blasio said on Monday: ‘I trust my daughter. I’ve known her her whole life. 

‘She’s an incredibly good human being, she cares for other people. She has also been an activist for years. This is not someone who would ever commit any violence. 

‘She recounted in tremendous details what happened and she believed she was following the instructions of police officers,’ he said. 

He added that it was wrong for the police department to leak details of her arrest to the media, and said he found out about it when his office received a media inquiry about her arrest.    

An NYPD spokesman told DailyMail.com on Monday morning it was unclear whether the looters had come from out of the city or if they were planned groups who had nothing to do with the Floyd protests but were merely taking advantage of the escalating chaos. 

The New York Post cites witnesses who say they had a system whereby one group would enter the store and grab the goods then flee on scooters and bikes.

‘The looters have been going systemically from store to store. They had people go in, grab the [items]. Then had people on Revel [scooters] take off. It was hundreds of people,’ they said.

This week hundreds of protests have unfolded in at least 145 cities across the country as people gather in outrage over the horrifying death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed while in the custody of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Memorial Day.

The demonstrations have marked unparalleled civil unrest in the US that hasn’t been seen since the 1968 assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Trump spent Sunday berating his enemies on Twitter and demanding ‘law and order’ in Democratic-run cities, but did not appear in public and opted against making a televised address to calm tensions.

He has been abhorred for his early response to the riots. 

When tensions first flared in Minneapolis, he tweeted: ‘When the looting starts, the shooting starts.’ Twitter censored his post. 

The National Guard has now been deployed in more than 20 states and there are growing fears that the protests and riots will continue. 

Donald Trump is holding talks with his Attorney General, law enforcement officials and state leaders on Monday as violent protests continued to escalate in cities all over the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Attorney General Bill Barr will visit the White House for an Oval Office meeting with the president Monday morning, and shortly after, Trump is scheduled to host a video conference with governors, law enforcement leaders and national security officials in the Situation Room to discuss ways to keep American communities safe.

Cities across the nation appear war-torn after rioters set establishments and cars in the middle of streets on fire, smashed windows of local stores and looted their shelves and clashed with law enforcement.

Many governors activated the National Guard in their states and sent them to cities being affected by protests turned to violence.

The president did not appear publicly on Sunday to address the rioters, who have engulfed the perimeter of the White House as well taken to the streets in several other U.S. cities, he did weigh in on Twitter, claiming that governors need to activate the National Guard in their states.

He lauded the improvements over the weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota by the National Guard’s presence – and while the demonstrations have appeared less violent since they started at the end of last week, police in the city said they discovered Sunday caches of homemade firebombs around the city.

Trump had to flee to the White House bunker to shelter in place for a short period of time on Friday, it was revealed on Sunday.

The president has also told aides that he’s concerned about his safety as the White House turned off its lights Sunday night while protests and riots continued a few hundred yards away from the residence.

The rioters also set a fire to American Flags in Lafayette Square, the park adjacent to the North Lawn of the White House – and they were hit by tear gas by law enforcement.

Trump has urged governors to activate the National Guard, demanding they ‘get tough, but has not sought control of the Army reservists himself to quell the nationwide riots.

The violence ensued after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed while in a white police officer’s custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

A cellphone video of the incident went viral where Derek Chauvin, 44, can be seen holding his knee on Floyd’s neck during an arrest for more than eight minutes as the victim repeatedly said he could not breathe.

While Floyd was handcuffed, four cops, including Chauvin, were holding him down.

Chauvin was fired after the video emerged and taken into custody on Friday after the violent protesters demanded he be arrested – and he is being charged with third-degree murder.

The other three officers have not been arrested.

Trump has also blamed the media, Democrats and outside groups for exacerbating the riots – asserting on Sunday that he is classifying the far-left anti-fascists group Antifa as a terrorist organization.

Antifa has no official leaders, and it could appear their fingerprints are all over the riots as their demonstrations include violent tactics that they deem justifiable.

‘Congratulations to our National Guard for the great job they did immediately upon arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last night,’ Trump tweeted Sunday morning. ‘The ANTIFA led anarchists, among others, were shut down quickly. Should have been done by Mayor on first night and there would have been no trouble!’

Minnesota law enforcement say that they believe white supremacists have infiltrated the riots in Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to stoke violent demonstrators.

‘They’re agitators, ‘Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell told CNN on Sunday, adding that there have been reports of Antifa members attending demonstrations.

While governors and mayors scramble to create more peace in their major cities, the president is blaming them not calling in the National Guard for aggravating the violent situations.

‘Get tough Democrat Mayors and Governors,’ Trump urged in a tweet. ‘These people are ANARCHISTS. Call in our National Guard NOW.’

‘The World is watching and laughing at you and Sleepy Joe,’ he continued, referring to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. ‘Is this what America wants? NO!!!’

By Sunday evening, Trump followed up his calls for the National Guard with a tweet that simply read: ‘LAW & ORDER!’

So far, 15 states and Washington, D.C. have deployed the Guard.

Rioters continue to take to the streets, becoming especially active after sundown, in major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and beyond.

As chaos unfolded around the country, Chauvin was moved to one of the most secure prisons in the US Sunday night, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

In a highly unusual move, Chauvin, who is facing a murder charge in the death of George Floyd, was transferred late Sunday to Oak Park Heights Prison – Minnesota’s only Level Five maximum security facility. 

The 407-inmate prison boasts of never having had an escape and is also regarded as one of the country’s safest, having only had one homicide in its history. Located on the border with Wisconsin, between the cities of Bayport and Stillwater, it accepts some of America’s most hated and high-risk inmates.

 Chauvin was due to appear in court on Monday but with Minneapolis still gripped by unrest the appearance was pushed back until June 8.

According to recent data released by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the Oak Park Heights Prison currently houses 297 murderers, 69 sexual predators and eight kidnappers.

Chauvin had spent the weekend locked in solitary confinement in a heavily fortified Minnesota jail guarded by police marksmen and barbed wire barriers, DailyMail.com can reveal.

SWAT teams armed with rifles and binoculars kept lookout from the rooftop of the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center while a phalanx of Sheriff’s Deputies stood guard behind hastily erected steel fences.

Chauvin was held there Friday through Sunday because of the carnage unfolding outside jail facilities in Minneapolis.

Ramsey County deputies took no chances, sealing off the area with concrete bomb-proof barriers and mounting round the clock patrols in case protesters decided to target the jail in downtown Saint Paul.

But despite demonstrators running amok across large swathes of the Twin Cities, the expected onslaught never happened and authorities were able to quietly transfer Chauvin to downtown Minneapolis Sunday afternoon.