DEFUND the NYPD : Washington Square (statues & grounds vandalized)

The Socialists (and Communists) were in Washington Square demanding “DEFUND the NYPD“! [Face Book] Flickr Slide Show

“By June 30th, 2020 the City Council will decide on the budget for the 2021 fiscal year. During a public health crisis that’s disproportionately killing Black and brown people, Mayor de Blasio’s proposed budget cuts funding for education and healthcare but keeps it for police and jails.”

“In light of ongoing police violence against our most vulnerable communities, we demand that the City Council cut the NYPD police force and the NYPD budget in half and re-invest in community and social needs. Power concedes nothing without a demand and it is crucial to back our demands with mass actions.”

“We are reaching out to partners in the community, in the labor movement, and on the left, who are interested in building such an action to pressure our representatives to Defund the NYPD.”

“Our hope is that this call can bring together NYC Black organizations, families of victims of police brutality, socialists, unions, social justice organizations and more to organize, build and participate in this demonstration as a show of what we want and need for our city.”

“Let’s join together to defund the NYPD, re-invest in communities, get cops out of unions and schools, defund the Vice Squad, close Rikers, Free the Three, disarm and demilitarize the police and hold them financially liable for their misconduct, pass an ECRB, end collaboration with ICE and DHS agencies, decriminalize drugs and sex work, fight for the rights of protestors, and tax the rich and Wall Street.”

++ And then there was the VANDALISM of the statues on the arch. They were vandalized over night with red paint. [NY Post]

I saw the statues next day, after the initial clean-up, with red paint splatter  still to be seen, close up.

“Dead bodies” were also drawn around the fountain.

Damage to the statues is long term. Apparently the process to remove the graffiti is not simple.

“Fact is that statue will never be completely clean again. How do I know this? Well, because I spoke with the conservator yesterday. They will return three or four more times to try to remove as much as possible, but it can never all be removed. The power washers —adjusted to their lowest, least damaging setting— cannot reach into those pores even with the aid of the graffiti cleaning chemicals they were employing. Why couldn’t they use more aggressive settings? Because it might have further damaged this very delicate, Stanford White masterpiece.” (Susan Fensten‎]

re  the vandalism:

“A woman on a Citi-Bike acted as lookout as the two men threw the paint bombs at the statues about 3:20 a.m. Monday, officials said. Cops released surveillance images of the two masked vandals in the hopes someone recognizes them.” [NY Daily News] [NY Daily News] [NY Daily News]