Black Rights Protesters Arrested in Lobby of Police Union Building

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — Dozens of black rights protesters demonstrated in the lobby of the New York City police union building Wednesday morning to demand the firing of the officer who shot an unarmed black man while off-duty earlier this month and oppose the union for what they see as preventing police accountability in the city.

Protesters from the Black Youth Project 100 and Million Hoodies New York City branches staged what they called a "lockdown" of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's lower Manhattan headquarters in the Financial District. A member of the New York Civil Liberties Union tweeted that at least 50 of its staff members were protesting with the BYP100.

Ten protesters were arrested, the NYPD said.

The protest is part of a national movement called #FreedomNow by the organizations "to call for a divestment from broken policing strategies." The protesters were also calling for an immediate firing of Wayne Isaacs, a black officer who fatally shot a black Brooklyn dad, Delrawn Small, on July 4 while off-duty.

The BYP100 is a national organization demanding a country without police and prisons. The protesters from the group on Wednesday shouted, "We don't need no cops!" and demanded the divestment of police unions, which they said perpetuate violence against black people. They livestreamed the protest.

"We're holding police unions accountable, especially given the fact that they support police officers even when they are acting unjustly in the middle of service, when they murder our people," said L'lerret Ailith, spokesperson for BYP100. "Those folks are put on paid leave and they are given very little amount of time [in prison] for the violence they have caused on our communities."

"Today's protest was a display of misdirected and misinformed anger that should have been pointed at City Hall, not the police officers who were on hand to protect the demonstrators' First Amendment rights," PBA President Patrick J. Lynch said in a statement Wednesday. "We always have protected that right, and we always will, provided it is done peacefully and legally. Chaining yourself inside private property and refusing to disperse when ordered is not legal. The climate police officers face is growing more dangerous by the day. Police officers are being shot at; that's not 'dialog,' it's violence. We need our elected leaders to step up and say unequivocally that violent and illegal behavior will not be tolerated, and to support police officers, period."

Photo from BYP100