Mayor Bill de Blasio at the dedication of NYPD memorial, Oct. 10, 2014 (Mayor's office photo)
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An update on what NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is lauding as "an example to the world on how to protest" from the New York Times:
At least five officers have been assaulted by protesters — including two lieutenants on Saturday during a nighttime melee on the Brooklyn Bridge. Earlier on Saturday, at Madison Avenue and 28th Street, a group of protesters surrounded a pair of traffic agents in a marked police car and smashed the rear window with a trash bin and a side window with a metal pole.
The New York Post reports on the two lieutenants:
NYPD officers were swarmed by protesters in a knock-down, drag-out brawl on the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night that sent two police lieutenants to the hospital.
The melee broke out at the tail end of a daylong march — which drew nearly 30,000 protesters calling for justice in the wake of the police-involved deaths of civilians Michael Brown and Eric Garner — when a group of marchers swarmed officers as they tried to make an arrest on the bridge roadway around 7:15 p.m., cops said....
"Calling for justice," of course, is mob-talk, a slogan that covers the continuous, morphing movement pressing for a Marxist division of our nation into hostile blocs vying for power over the law. What is remarkable about this current surge is the support it now receives from those in power -- the suits that issue orders and ride in limos. Little wonder protesters wending through their way through Murray Hill in Manhattan felt emboldened to chant: "What do we want?" "Dead cops!" "When do we want them?" "Now!" Little wonder we are seeing violence against police in the streets.
And who is in the streets? Among others, the man charged with inciting the rioting on the bridge, Eric Linsker, 29, a Harvard graduate and English teacher somewhere or other -- reports so far variously place him at Baruch college, City University and Columbia Teacher College.
Above all, though, Linksker is a poet:
Hark:
F–k the police
To rise as you
Disappear below current
Interpretations of observations
F–k the police.
What is there to say outside of noting that this perfectly encapsulates almost every noxious assault on Western culture over the past century?
CBS New York reports on what happened after "Linkser allegedly tried to throw a metal garbage can at officers on the Brooklyn Bridge."
[Police] attempted to arrest him, but protesters intervened, pulling the man away from police and punching and kicking the cops in the face and head, authorities told 1010 WINS’ Kevin Rincon. The demonstrators also knocked the two lieutenants down to the ground and punched and kicked them, police said.
“They were knocked to the ground. They were punched by numerous people and kicked in the face and the head, while the group attempted to steal their portable radios and tear away their police identification jackets,” said the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counter-terrorism John Miller.
One lieutenant sustained a broken nose.
The very next line in the CBS report is an non-ironic link to: "Photos: New York City Protest Against Police Violence." Don't miss the sign invoking Black Panther convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur.
Earlier, I looked at the response of "authorities" to the stunning retraction of an article claiming that a UVA freshman suffered a gang rape at a fraternity. This response revealed an allegiance to ideology over facts that had perverted or simply eliminated the capacity of these powerful officials to seek truth and render judgment. They have other goals.
So does NYC's Sandinista Mayor Bill de Blasio. Below is his statement following the hospitalization of two police lieutenants. It is not exactly the stuff of Hayakawa or Reagan. It is a paean to the protesters. De Blasio doesn't mention other attacks, or the poisonous chanting for dead cops, either. That's a statement NYPD is still waiting for, as the head of NYPD Hispanic Society, pointed out.
Yes, a minority police group has the safety of anyone who wears the uniform in mind, not identity politics. But identity politics is the Left's means to power, so forget about that thin Hispanic blue line along with the rest of it. Once again, this is all about concentrating power, not fighting racial discrimination. We can see the same hypocrisy in the neglected case of Sgt. Derrick Miller.
So get out of the way.
The mayor speaks:
Over the past several days, the people of New York have provided an example to the world on how to protest, march and express themselves in a peaceful and respectful manner. However, an incident today on the Brooklyn Bridge, in which a small group of protestors allegedly assaulted some members of the NYPD, marks an ugly and unacceptable departure from the demonstrations thus far.
"Allegedly" as in a police lieutenant has a broken nose.
Let us be clear: there is no place whatsoever for violence of any kind, whether against the police or against our fellow citizens, in New York City.
Come to think of it, why have police at all?
The people of New York should be proud for how they have made their voices heard over these past several days, and the men and women of our police force should be commended for the professionalism, dedication and restraint they have displayed throughout these marches.
We will not allow a small contingent of agitators to bring disorder and violence to ...
Quizz time: ... to our city? ... our police force? Nope.
...to these protests.
Of course! These protests must go on. The problem with violence is that it will weaken the protesters' emotional, if irrational, hold on public opinion. Better to minimize violence ("allegedly") as much as possible, and forget about "Dead Cops" chants, etc. (The rest of de Blasio's statement is here.)
I almost get the feeling it is all de Blasio can do to stay off the streets -- and, of course, he's in charge.