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Protests spring up in NYC, other cities in response to Rittenhouse verdict
Protests sprang up in New York and other cities across the country Friday night in response to Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal, resulting in at least five arrests and some property damage in Queens.
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Protests sprang up in New York and other cities across the country Friday night in response to Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal, resulting in at least five arrests and some property damage in Queens, according to the NYPD.
Police tweeted a photo of vandalized vehicles in Queens, including a car with handicap plates that had “F–k you” graffitied on the back in black spray paint.
“The NYPD takes its responsibility to protect the 1st amendment rights of peaceful demonstrators seriously,” the tweet said. “Just as important is the safety of NYers & the protection of property from people breaking the law in the name of protest. As seen tonight in Queens, they will be arrested.”
Law enforcement sources said five people were arrested for allegedly damaging cars and houses in Middle Village.
Queens Councilman Robert Holden told The Post that protestors tore through Crowley Park, and were also “jumping on cars and stealing American flags” on residential streets in Middle Village and Maspeth.
Holden raged over Mayor Bill de Blasio’s statement decrying the verdict, saying it “added gasoline to the fire.”
He said he sent the mayor a text that read: “Thousands of families mind their own business are in danger tonight because of your reckless reaction to the trial verdict.”
About 300 protesters also gathered outside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, where the Nets played the Orlando Magic Friday night, decrying the not-guilty verdict as a shameful racial double standard in the justice system.
Some held signs that read: “no justice in the capitalist courts” and “capitalism breeds racist terror.”
“Although Kyle Rittenhouse did not kill a black person. He was able to kill a white motherf—er and walk free,” on protester said.
The group marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Lower Manhattan, before dispersing.
Meanwhile, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, dozens of protesters congregated outside of the courthouse where Rittenhouse had been acquitted, for hours after the decision was announced.
A large-scale protest never materialized, and the small group was largely peaceful. One woman was arrested for drawing “Judge Schroeder must go” on the courthouse walls and steps in chalk, referring to Bruce Schroeder, the judge in the Rittenhouse trial, according to local reports.
Chants of “F–k Kyle,” and “No justice, no peace,” rang out from the crowd.
“It pissed me off because he shouldn’t got off,” Darell Garrett, 39, of Kenosha told The Post of the verdict. “I feel he should have gotten life for both those bodies. It makes no sense.”