What to Know
- Demonstrators flooded into the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association to call on the union to demand the firing of Wayne Isaacs.
- Isaacs is the NYPD officer who shot and killed an unarmed motorist in an apparent traffic dispute earlier this month.
- 10 protesters were arrested, organizers said.
At least 10 protesters were arrested Wednesday after they staged a sit-in at the offices of the NYPD's rank-and-file union, chaining themselves to gates and blocking elevators entrances, organizers said.
BYP100, an activist group comprised of black people ages 18 to 35, said it staged the protest at the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association in lower Manhattan to compel the union to demand the firing of Wayne Isaacs, the NYPD officer who shot and killed an unarmed motorist in an apparent traffic stop while Isaacs was off-duty earlier this month.
The police are trying to manipulate the conversation," said Rahel Mekdim Teka, the group's organizing chair. "They are trying to manipulate all of us into believing that they are at risk. They are not at risk. Police officers are the threat."
Photos and videos posted to social media appear to show officers arresting several of the protesters as they sat in front of security checkpoints and chanted. Others apparently bound themselves to gates, and the NYPD brought in saws to cut the steel chains the protesters used.
Later, the protesters moved outside the building to continue their demonstration.
PBA President Pat Lynch said in a statement that the protest was "a display of midirected and misinformed anger that should have been pointed at city hall."
"Police officers are being shot at; that's not 'dialog,' it's violence," he said. "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."
At least 50 members of the American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union were standing by in solidarity with the protesters, according to a tweet from the NYCLU's deputy advocacy director.
BYP100 also staged a similar protest in Washington, D.C., picketing outside the offices of the Fraternal Order of Police, an advocacy and lobbying group supporting law enforcement agencies.
