New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter Chiara de Blasio was arrested during a Manhattan protest Saturday night. The 25-year-old reportedly did not tell police she was the mayor’s daughter but listed his Upper East Side home as her address. Chiara was arrested around 10:30 p.m. after police declared an unlawful assembly in Lower Manhattan, police sources told the New York Post. The protests against police brutality were in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
Law enforcement sources told the Post Chiara was arrested at 12th Street and Broadway for allegedly blocking traffic and refusing to leave the scene. “That was a real hotspot; police cars were getting burned there, people were throwing and yelling, fighting with cops,” one source told the Post. “There were thousands of people in that area at that time.”
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About an hour after Chiara was arrested, de Blasio said it was time for protesters to go home during a press conference at NYC Emergency Management headquarters in Brooklyn. “If you went out peacefully to make a point about the need for change, you have been heard, and change is coming in the city,” de Blasio said. “I have no doubt about that. It’s time to go home so we can all move forward.”
In another press briefing on Sunday, de Blasio said there were anarchist agitatos with an “explicit agenda of violence” who are using the protests of police brutality as an opportunity to create chaos. “It is a small number of people. It is well organized, even though many of the people are associated with the anarchist movement,” de Blasio told reporters. He said some agitators came from “outside of the cities” and some are “from inside,” although he did not give details. He did not mention Ciara’s arrest. She was given a desk appearance ticket.
De Blasio has faced renewed criticism for the NYPD’s handling of the protests after multiple viral videos showed shocking incidents involving police. One video showed two NYPD SUVs plowing into protesters in Brooklyn Saturday night. De Blasio said two of his appointees would review the events and defended the NYPD’s behavior.
“There are many things that I can tell you that I think were done right by the NYPD, especially the level of restraint, but there also were mistakes and there were individual actions that must be fully investigated,” de Blasio said, reports the New York Daily News. De Blasio said a review would help identify the officers involved in the incidents and promised “very quick results” in June.
De Blasio said Corporation Counsel Jim Johnson and Investigation Department Commissioner Margaret Garnett would handle the reviews. This decision did not please other city leaders. Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Councilman Ritchie Torres both called for an independent investigation. “Any investigation by the city should be conducted independently, not in coordination with or under the supervision of the Corporation Counsel or any other office or agency directly controlled by the mayor,” they said.
