A march organized by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement to commemorate activist Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday in New York turned violent and resulted in 29 people being arrested and 11 police officers being injured, local media reported Tuesday.
Hundreds of participants in the “Black Liberation March” left Barclays Center Stadium, BLM’s meeting point, and crossed the iconic Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall in southern Manhattan, where a large number of local police officers were deployed and confrontations took place.
According to NYPD chief Dermott Shea, to local channel NY1, “on a day to remember Martin Luther King there were demonstrations that consisted of violence, throwing bottles, breaking property, calling for the death of the agents and razing the city,” which he considered the “antithesis” of the legacy of the historic anti-racist activist.
In total, 29 people were arrested for disorderly conduct, obstructing authority, resisting arrest and road blocking, most of them released with a court summons; while 11 police officers were injured, one of them beaten in the helmet with a bottle.
The police chief said the violence was “created by people who want to destroy the city” and groups that “want to destroy our way of life and hurt the police who risk their lives every day,” and who attend demonstrations without having “any intention of peaceful protest.”
