[NYPD]
Gothamist: “The march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall was initially conceived by a coalition of Black clergy leaders as a community-focused Christian unity event. The flyer called for reforms to policing, health care and education.”
Photo: YouTube
Desperate NYPD officers from Sergeants Benevolent Association, apparently “hijacked” a march organized by Black clergy.
The organizers of an anti-violence prayer march said that Blue Lives Matter activists, including some NYPD officers, “hijacked” their pro-reform march on Wednesday — leaving the marchers confused and guilt-ridden as cops cracked down on anti-police counter-protesters.
The march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall was initially conceived by a coalition of Black clergy leaders as a community-focused Christian unity event. The flyer called for reforms to policing, health care and education, and included no mention of an NYPD presence.
But after the Sergeants Benevolent Association distributed a separate flyer for the event — describing it as a rally to “support law enforcement,” as well as clergy — hundreds of current and former NYPD officers showed up, sporting matching blue t-shirts, waving Thin Blue Line flags, and holding signs in support of police funding.
“When I seen the Blue Lives Matter flag I’m like, what is going on? This is not what it’s about,” recalled Tramell Thompson, the leader of Progressive Action, which helped organize the event with the United Clergy Coalition. “If police officers are men and women of God, there’s nothing wrong with that. But to bring ‘Blue Lives Matter’ to a church event, I think it took away from the message.”
He said he later realized that “the NYPD co-opted” the prayer march to make it appear they had the community’s support. “If you look at their flyer, they have none of our agenda items on it,” he added. “It’s like they hijacked our march.”
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