De Blasio Lifts Curfew 'Effective Immediately'

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio lifted a controversial curfew one day early after nights of peaceful protests over the killing of George Floyd.

"New York City: We are lifting the curfew, effective immediately," he tweeted on Sunday. "Yesterday and last night we saw the very best of our city."

De Blasio originally imposed an 8 p.m. to 5 p.m. curfew after nights of looting in Manhattan and the Bronx amid unrest over George Floyd's killing. But it quickly, if not immediately, garnered criticism as nonviolent protesters became targets of heavy-handed NYPD tactics to break up demonstrations past the curfew.

Protesters, including some city elected officials, called for de Blasio to stop the curfew before its intended last night of Sunday. De Blasio resisted, insisting it was necessary to stop looting and violence — two things that all but faded early in the demonstrations.

In the meantime, police moved to the tactic of "kettling" large groups — surrounding protesters on all sides and pushing protesters into a line of heavily-armored police. Scenes from Brooklyn, among other places, showed police charging nonviolent protesters and conducting arrests.

On Sunday, de Blasio continued to defend the curfew and, generally, NYPD tactics used to break up peaceful protesters. He seized on a reporter describing "apparently" peaceful protesters.

"Apparently" is a key word, de Blasio said.

"Sometimes we saw a video that was part of what happened, not all of what happened," he said. "Sometimes it looked like we had a group of peaceful protesters and within that group, unfortunately, there were some folks who aimed to do violence. I think we're seeing more and more evidence that —and again, it could be a very small group and not representative at all, but it still creates an entirely different set of challenges for the NYPD."

De Blasio, when asked how many people during the protests were arrested for looting versus curfew-related reasons, said he would have NYPD release the numbers.

He also said discipline for NYPD officers who attacked protesters would be swift.