Posted on June 12, 2020 by Valeria Ricciulli in Curbed NY Curbed NY, By Valeria Ricciulli As New Yorkers protested against racism and police brutality over the past few weeks, the NYPD was caught on video clashing with demonstrators several times: shoving a 20-year-old woman against the pavement, hitting individuals with batons, and driving into a crowd with an SUV. Meanwhile, the City Council has been in negotiations with the de Blasio administration to set the budget for fiscal year 2021. That, coupled with the nationwide protests against police brutality, has resurfaced calls from advocates to defund the NYPD’s $6 billion budget and invest $1 billion of those funds — to begin with — in social and homeless services, as well as housing.
