Cops were disinvited from participating in NYC Pride this year, but that didn’t stop them from showing up in riot gear.
So what
Seattle’s CHAZ notwithstanding, police don’t need progressive activists’ permission to do their jobs.
The moment
As battle-ready New York Police Department officers descended on Washington Square Park Sunday, reporters on the scene tsk-tsked, and The City’s Christine Chung recorded some of the skirmishes that led to eight arrests.
The New York state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the police presence on Twitter and demanded: “The [Strategic Response Group] should stand down and allow Pride-goers to continue their celebrations. Now.”
The backstory
NYC Pride organizers this year controversially banned uniformed cops from marching in groups at events until 2025, citing the need to “create safer spaces for the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities at a time when violence against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans communities, has continued to escalate.”
