Mayor de Blasio said late Wednesday that the city will conduct a 90-day review of “all symbols of hate on city property” in the wake of violence sparked by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.
A 32-year-old woman was killed and more than a dozen people were injured when a vehicle slammed into a group of counter-protesters on Saturday, and two state troopers died when the helicopter from which they were monitoring events suddenly crashed.
Opposition to the removal of a statue of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee was at the heart of rallies by white nationalists and KKK members in Charlottesville this year.
New York City officials said they’re putting together a panel of “relevant experts and community leaders” who will define the criteria and make recommendations for which items to remove.
“It’s the beginning framework of what will ideally be a long-term approach to the evaluation of public structures and controversial pieces of public art,” said City Hall spokesman Eric Phillips.
Hizzoner said he already has one specific target in mind: a sidewalk marker in downtown Manhattan for Nazi collaborator Henri Phillipe Petain.
New York City officials didn’t immediately respond when asked what the criteria for removing the markers would be, nor who would decide.
He said it would be “one of the first we remove.”
It’s one of two plaques that Assembly member Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) has previously called on city officials to eliminate.
The other, also located in downtown’s Canyon of Heroes, honors fellow Nazi-collaborator Pierre Laval.
“This has nothing to do with freedom of speech,” said Hikind. “Painful and obvious symbols of hate, such as statues and markers commemorating Nazi collaborators or proponents of slavery, are antithetical to everything our city stands for. Statues and plaques to villains have no place on New York City public property.”
City officials didn’t immediately respond when asked about the Laval marker.
City officials said the Laval marker would be among those considered for removal by the panel.