Mayor Bill de Blasio continued to defend his controversial citywide curfew Friday, rejecting demands from top Big Apple officials that he abandon the nightly lockdowns as a new legal challenge claims they violate New Yorkers’ civil rights.
“My plan is to continue the curfew throughout the week,” de Blasio told reporters during his daily briefing. “Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, same schedule 8 p.m to 5 a.m. On Monday morning at 5 a.m., curfew ends — does not come back if all goes well, and we go right into Phase One of the restart.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio ordered the curfew, which began Monday, after vandals used mass demonstrations spurred by the videotaped in-custody death of George Floyd as cover to loot stores in Manhattan and the Bronx.
Officials credit the curfew with helping to limit the looting seen on Sunday and Monday nights.
But the policy was controversial from the get-go, with the city’s second-highest ranking elected official, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, holding a press event after the curfew kicked in Monday night to protest the policy.
And criticism mounted throughout the week as videos and press accounts depicting the aggressive tactics used by baton-wielding police to break up after-curfew rallies and arrest even peaceful protesters — despite de Blasio’s repeated assurances those marches are allowed — went viral.
The New York Immigration Coalition said late Friday it plans to sue City Hall over the policy, claiming it violates constitutional protections for speech and travel. The New York Civil Liberties Union told The Post they backing the lawsuit.
Along with that new legal woe, City Hall’s political position continued to deteriorate as well — with every major city politician considering a mayoral bid in 2021 released statements calling for the curfew’s end.
“End the curfew. Reduce the NYPD budget to invest in communities. Pass drastic police reform. Attack structural racism,” tweeted Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Friday morning.
A likely Johnson rival in the 2021 mayoral race, city Comptroller Scott Stringer also joined the chorus.
New Yorkers have endured seven nights of police violence and seven days of excuses, falsehoods, and incompetence from @NYCMayor and @NYPDShea,” he tweeted. “Enough is enough. The curfew is a failure and must end.”
The third major candidate expected to jump into the race — Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer — joined the chorus.
“Mr. Mayor: It’s time. Lift the curfew. Let the people peacefully protest. We don’t need excessive force to keep our city safe and make our voices heard,” he tweeted.
His counterpart in Manhattan, Borough President Gale Brewer, demanded the curfew’s end too.
“We must end this curfew. People who could be supporting small businesses & keeping streets safe can’t go out, while people intent on committing serious crimes will go out anyway,” she tweeted. “Essential workers trying to get home after a long day of fighting the pandemic are being harassed.”