纽约——在“解散警察”抗议成为市政厅外的全面占领一周后，市长比尔·白思豪周一宣布，他有一项纽约市警察局预算削减10亿美元的计划。
身为民主党人的市长拒绝讨论他所称的美国最大的警察部门的“储蓄”来源，他在新闻发布会上表示，削减仍在与市议会协商中。但他表示，基建项目支出将减少5亿美元，教育部在监管学校方面的角色可能会有所改变。
德布拉西奥说，资金将被推迟到该市长期资金不足的公共住房系统和青年项目。
“NYPD做得非常好，他说，‘好吧，这里有一大堆我们可以做的事情，同时保持这个城市的安全。’”他说我们需要将收入重新分配给最需要的社区。我们知道我们的年轻人受到了伤害。"
预算谈判之际，数百名示威者过去一周在市政厅公园扎营，要求警方平息因乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)和其他被执法部门杀害的美国黑人的死亡引发的数周抗议。
组织者称之为“占领市政厅”——这是对距离祖科蒂公园几个街区远的2011年占领华尔街运动的认可。
该组织把他们的要求——潦草地写在彩色的标语牌上，涂鸦的标语和贴在地铁入口处的巨幅海报——指向了德·布拉西奥和议会发言人克里·约翰逊。
“我们已经做了不同程度的升级，以确保我们得到他们的注意，”该运动的组织者之一乔纳森·莱科斯说。“如果他们让警方撤资10亿美元，那么我们就赢了——但这只是我们本周的要求。”
占领吸引了年龄不足以投票的抗议者，也吸引了像布鲁克林的黛比·威廉姆斯这样的资深活动家，她形容这场运动与她所见过的任何运动都不一样。
“人们的眼睛现在睁开了，”威廉姆斯说，他周日睡在这个地方，周一在一个被称为“寒冷地带”的家具区休息
“我们看到了变化，”她补充道，“但这还不够。”
削减NYPD预算的想法，现在每年约60亿美元用于运营，外加数十亿美元的共享城市开支，如养老金，甚至在一年前似乎在政治上是可笑的。对911袭击和20世纪70年代、80年代和90年代早期高犯罪率的记忆太新鲜了。
但是现在，由于冠状病毒关闭造成的巨大收入损失，各城市机构都在应对大幅削减的可能性。NYPD大约有36，000名警察。当被问及这个数字是否能维持时，德·布拉西奥回答道:“无论我们在人数上做什么，都必须保证这座城市的安全。”
警察慈善协会联盟的负责人帕特里克·林奇说，提议的削减将导致在持续数周的枪击事件激增的情况下，街上的警察减少。
“我们将再说一遍:市长和市议会已经让这座城市陷入无法无天的状态。林奇在一份书面声明中说:“除非纽约人让他们负起责任，否则情况不会好转。
市政厅公园的占领是由黑人和女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和变性者组织的，但试图包括意识形态的各种投入。一个临时的“人民图书馆”，聚集在帐篷下，宣传“激进文学”
附近的“bodega”向占领者免费赠送食物和个人防护设备，其中许多人戴着面具。发言人宣布了“解除逮捕训练”课程，并强化了太空居民互相照顾的期望。
“我们希望结束种族不公正，这意味着我们现在就呆在这个空间里，”曼尼说，他向人群发表讲话，但拒绝透露自己的姓氏。“很明显，人们希望度过周二，希望看到警察和监狱被废除。”
由于冠状病毒，纽约市仍禁止10人以上的集会，但这些规定已被抗议者忽视数周，警方也没有采取行动强制执行。
吕克斯说，占领让NYPD“紧张”，想起了一系列没有逮捕就解决的小冲突。他将曼哈顿下城的和平集会与西雅图持续数周的暴力占领区区分开来。
“我们举行了一次起义，这是自马丁·路德·金去世以来规模最大的一次，”他说。“这是最糟糕的时期，但就改变的机会而言，这是最好的时期。”
NYC mayor seeks $1 billion police cut amid City Hall protest
NEW YORK -- A week after a “defund the police” protest became a full-blown occupation outside City Hall, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday he has a plan for the New York City police department budget to be slashed by $1 billion.
The mayor, a Democrat, declined to discuss the sources of what he called “savings” for the nation’s largest police department, saying at a news briefing that the cuts are still being negotiated with the City Council. But he said spending on capital projects would be reduced by $500 million and there could be changes to the department’s role in policing schools.
Money would be deferred to the city's chronically underfunded public housing system and to youth programs, de Blasio said.
“The NYPD did a hell a good job in saying, ’Ok, here’s a bunch of things we could do while still keeping this city safe,” he said. “We need to redistribute revenue to communities that need it the most. We know our young people are hurting.”
The budget talks come as hundreds of demonstrators have spent the past week camped out in City Hall Park and demanding police defunding following weeks of protests over the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans killed by law enforcement.
Organizers have called it “Occupy City Hall” — a nod to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement a few blocks away in Zuccotti Park.
The group directed its demands — scrawled on colorful placards, a canvass of graffiti and a massive poster taped over a subway entrance — at de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
“We’ve done different levels of escalation to make sure we’re getting their attention,” said Jonathan Lykes, one of the movement’s organizers. “If they defund the police by $1 billion then we have won — but that’s only our demand this week.”
The occupation has drawn protesters barely old enough to vote but also veteran activists like Debbie Williams, of Brooklyn, who described the movement as unlike any she’s seen.
“People’s eyes are opened now,” said Williams, who slept at the site Sunday and was cooling off Monday in a furnished area dubbed the “Chill Zone.”
“We’re seeing change,” she added, “but it’s not enough.”
The idea of slashing the NYPD's budget, now around $6 billion annually for operations plus several billion dollars more in shared city expenses, like pensions, seemed politically laughable even a year ago. Memories of the Sept. 11 attacks and the high-crime decades of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s were too fresh.
But now, city agencies across the board are dealing with the possibility of big cuts due to a huge loss in revenue caused by coronavirus shutdowns. The NYPD has about 36,000 officers. Asked if that number will hold, de Blasio responded: “Whatever we do in terms of headcount has to keep the city safe.”
Patrick Lynch, head of the Police Benevolent Association union, said the proposed cuts will lead to fewer cops on the streets amid a spike in shootings that has lasted several weeks.
“We will say it again: the Mayor and the City Council have surrendered the city to lawlessness. Things won’t improve until New Yorkers hold them responsible,” Lynch said in written statement.
The City Hall Park occupation was organized by Black and LGBT activists but has sought to include input across the ideological spectrum. A makeshift “People's Library,” assembled under a tent, promotes “radical literature.”
A nearby “bodega” features free donated food and personal protective equipment to occupiers, many of whom are wearing masks. Speakers announced “de-arrest training” sessions and reinforced the expectation that residents of the space look after one another.
“We want racial injustice to end, and the means is that we stay here right now in this space,” said Manny, who addressed the crowd but declined to give his last name. “It’s very clear that people want to stay past Tuesday and that people want to see police and prison abolition.”
Gatherings of more than 10 people are still banned in New York City because of the coronavirus, but those rules have been ignored by protesters for weeks and police have not moved to enforce them.
Lykes said the occupation has made the NYPD “nervous,” recalling a string of minor confrontations that were resolved without arrests. He differentiated the peaceful assembly in Lower Manhattan from a weeks-old occupation in Seattle that has seen episodes of violence.
“We have an uprising and one of the largest we’ve seen since the death of Martin Luther King,” he said. “These are the worst of times but the best of times as far as an opportunity to change.”
