Demonstrators are demanding elected officials keep promises to defund the NYPD.
Gathering outside City Hall where less than a year prior, protesters had set up camp calling it an autonomous zone in support of the defunding the police movement, banners and signs once again returned to the area asking for the removal of funds from law enforcement, this time in pursuit of last year’s promise to cut $1 billion from the NYPD.
Taking place one day before City Council’s first June meeting, various advocacy groups such as Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), VOCAL-NY, Make the Road New York, and others are demanding that $1 billion be removed from the NYPD’s budget and reinvested into other public solutions like education and community outreach programs. In June 2020, the New York City Council voted on the proposed budget saying “yes” to the reallocation. Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson agreed to cut money from the NYPD’s $6 billion operating budget.
