NYC Mayor Urges ‘Peaceful, Constructive’ Protests After Garner Decision

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was quick to release a statement reacting to the Eric Garner grand jury decision asking New Yorkers to protest in a non-violent manner. He starts out by calling this a “deeply emotional day” and acknowledging, “Eric Garner’s death put a spotlight on police-community relations and civil rights.”

RELATED: De Blasio, NYPD Tweeted About Body Cameras 2 Hours Before Garner Decision

But most importantly of all, the mayor repeatedly emphasizes the need for non-violence at this time:

New York City owns a proud and powerful tradition of expressing ourselves through non-violent protest. We trust that those unhappy with today’s grand jury decision will make their views known in the same peaceful, constructive way. We all agree that demonstrations and free speech are valuable contributions to debate, and that violence and disorder are not only wrong – but hurt the critically important goals we are trying to achieve together.

De Blasio points out that there is still an NYPD investigation, as well as a U.S. attorney investigation, going on, and touted planned police reforms like low-level arrests for marijuana and body cameras for all officers.

You can read the full statement here.

[image via a katz/Shutterstock]

— —

Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!