Briefing June 1: There’s A Curfew Tonight, Lots Of Arrests, People Pepper-Sprayed & More

Briefing June 1: There’s A Curfew Tonight, Lots Of Arrests, People Pepper-Sprayed & More
Brooklyn Protest – George Floyd – on May 29. By Adrian Childress/Bklyner

It’s finally June! May this month bring happiness. Here are some new numbers as of this afternoon:

  • There were 283 new positive confirmed coronavirus cases in NYC, compared to the 783 new cases from before the weekend. There were 34 new confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in NYC compared to the 64 deaths from before the weekend.
  • There will be a citywide curfew in NYC starting at 11 p.m. TONIGHT (6/1), lasting until 5 a.m. NYC residents must stay at home after 11 p.m., both the Governor and Mayor announced.
  • There will also be an increase in police presence “to help prevent violence and property damage,” the Governor and Mayor announced. “The additional officers will be deployed to areas where violence and property damage occurred during last night’s protests – specifically in Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.”
  • Cops drove into protesters over the weekend in Flatbush. We don’t know yet if anyone was injured from that encounter.
  • A cop pulled down a man’s mask to pepper spray him on the face, video shows.
  • State Senator Zellnor Myrie was pepper-sprayed and handcuffed at a protest outside Barclays Center of the weekend.
  • Assembly Woman Diana Richardson was also pepper-sprayed outside Barclays Center while she was protesting.
  • A cop aggressively pushed a young protestor in Flatbush. She fell, had a seizure, and went to the hospital. There’s a video of that incident as well.
  • A bus driver refused to transport arrested protesters for the NYPD. When the cops told the driver to do so, he walked out of the bus.
  • Undocumented immigrants are facing hardships in accessing funeral services during the pandemic, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
  • The protests in NY may lead to a rise in coronavirus cases, Governor Cuomo said. Anyone who’s been attending the protests should get tested as soon as they can.
  • State lawmakers in New York are “inching closer to repealing a law shielding police disciplinary records, several people familiar with the matter,” THE CITY reported.
  • Have you read this editorial by our publisher/editor Liena Zagare? “These are the same black and brown neighbors saving lives, taking care of the elderly and the sick, educating our children, driving buses and trains, bringing us food, defending our rights in courts, the military, and police… They are human. And yet, and yet, in the USA, it is not convenient that they’d be treated with the same respect and consideration as white people.”