Gracie Mansion Protest Vigil Honors Victims Of Police Killings

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Protesters occupied two full blocks on East End Avenue outside Gracie Mansion Tuesday evening and held a silent vigil for thirty minutes to honor people killed by police on the sixth night of protesting in New York City after the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd.

Organizers kicked off the vigil at 7 p.m., asking Upper East Siders in attendance to acknowledge their privilege of living in an under-policed neighborhoods and reciting several names of the people of color killed by police in recent years: Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd.

After the brief speech, protesters began their vigil. Many took to a knee, a nod to the protest launched by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick against police brutality, but eventually switched to a seated position after a few minutes. The group of several dozen was fortified by latecomers and passersby, eventually stretching East End Avenue from East 85th to 87th streets.

Protesters led a "Black Lives Matter" chant to break the vigil around 7:30 and then began to head home ahead of New York City's 8 p.m. curfew. Vigil organizers told the crowd that they would be back at Carl Schurz Park on Wednesday night.

The vigil was the second protest to hit the Gracie Mansion area on Tuesday night. Just about an hour before, a large group of thousands of protesters marched on the mayor's residence from Bryant Park. A police line set up on East End Avenue, blocking entrance to the mansion on 87th and 88th streets, turned the protest away. Protesters eventually turned back down Second Avenue and marched out of the Upper East Side.