Groups of aggressive New York police officers pushed, shoved, roughed up, and used pepper spray on peaceful participants in the Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality, held on the anniversary of the Stonewall riots on Sunday. The clash took place near Washington Square Park, according to videos posted to social media.
Gothamist reports: “Numerous videos shared on social media show a crowd of officers shoving outraged protesters where arrests were being made near Washington Square Park. As two were being arrested for graffiti, protesters intervened in an attempt to free them, at which point police responded with pepper spray, multiple witnesses told Gothamist. A legal observer said at least four people were arrested and 10 others pepper sprayed—including someone running a fruit stand nearby protesters.”
Said Marlyn Suarez, 24, a community organizer, to the New York Daily News: “Everyone had been super chill. It was relaxed, people were having dance parties. Then all of a sudden everyone sees that cops are trying to arrest this one person. In a second there was a whole bunch of cops surrounding all of us. They came rushing on the street. And then they just started pepper spraying everywhere, all over in the crowd. It all happened fast. I didn’t know what had happened.”
