5 Face Charges In Central Queens Protest Of Rittenhouse Verdict

MIDDLE VILLAGE, QUEENS — Police said that they arrested five people in central Queens on Friday night in response to what many outlets have reported was a protest to the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.

On the evening of Nov. 19th, around 8:30 p.m., police officers saw a "large group marching through" Middle Village "screaming," NYPD officials reported.

According to police the group marched in the street, threw garbage cans into the path of police vehicles, took several flags off of peoples' flag poles, damaged multiple parked vehicles, and tried to break and uproot mailboxes.

The protest was reportedly in response to a jury verdict on Friday, which found Rittenhouse not guilty on all counts after shooting three men — killing two and wounding the third — during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year.

On Saturday, however, Mayor-elect Eric Adams and other local elected officials said that the protest was not related to the Rittenhouse verdict.

Instead, local City Council Member Robert Holden blamed anarchists for the vandalism, which included breaking car windows and spray painting profanity onto the back of at least one vehicle, PIXII reported.

“Last night, 40 to 50 anarchists dressed in black assembled at Crowley Park in Elmhurst and then entered Middle Village to vandalize and disturb the peace," Holden said in the statement reported by the outlet.

The five men who were arrested, who ranged from ages 37 to 22, were hit with an array of charges, including rioting, criminal mischief, graffiti, unlawful assembly, and walking in the roadway.

Police also took a hatchet, axe, black spray paint can, and graffiti marker from the group, records show.

On the night of the arrest the NYPD took to twitter to show a photo of some of the vehicle damage, and respond to the protest.

"The NYPD takes its responsibility to protect the 1st amendment rights of peaceful demonstrators seriously. Just as important is the safety of NYers & the protection of property from people breaking the law in the name of protest," the NYPD tweeted.

There were no arrests reported from another large protest in response to the Rittenhouse verdict in Brooklyn on Friday night. The NYPD, however, has been scrutinized for its response to peaceful protestors in the past: Earlier this year the New York Attorney General sued the NYPD over its handling of Black Lives Matter protests last spring.

"There is no question that the NYPD engaged in a pattern of excessive, brutal, and unlawful force against peaceful protesters," James said, as reported by ABC News.