With most festivals canceled, activists have at least found a use for their sleeping bags – trying to defund the New York police.
Hundreds gathered in a peaceful protest outside New York City Hall late on Wednesday, demanding a $1 billion funding cut to the city’s police department (NYPD).
Carrying ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Defund the police’ banners, many settled on a grassy area outside the building with towels and sleeping bags, and as night fell, musicians began to perform.
One protester, Helen Edwardes, said she hoped that ‘defunding the police will bring about more economic equality, more opportunities to poorer communities, and create equity,’ and that she would like to see a cut of more than $1 billion, but ‘$1 billion is a start.’
This was the demonstrators’ second night in a row outside City Hall. One more night and they’ll have made the $429 cost of a weekend pass to Coachella look very bad value for money.