Far-left mayor of New York Bill de Blasio said on Thursday that although large gatherings through the city will not be allowed, Black Lives Matter protests are free to go on unabated. It’s assumed that the consequence of Black Lives Matter advocates contracting the disease more than the average population is unintended.
Speaking on CNN Thursday night, de Blasio said the demonstrators’ calls for social justice were too important to stop after more than a month of demonstrations have not led to an outbreak of coronavirus cases.
“This is a historic moment of change. We have to respect that but also say to people the kinds of gatherings we’re used to, the parades, the fairs — we just can’t have that while we’re focusing on health right now,” de Blasio told host Wolf Blitzer.
The exception came as New York’s rate of infections has remained consistent through the civil unrest over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
NYC cancels large public gatherings through the end of September
A late-June study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found no evidence that coronavirus cases jumped in 315 cities in the weeks after the first protests. Researchers determined that protests may have been offset by an increase in social distancing among those who decided not to march.The City Hall shutdown will include big parades like the West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn on Labor Day weekend, the Dominican Day Parade in Midtown Manhattan and the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy.
De Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray joined BLM activists on Thursday to paint Black Lives Matter on the street in front of Trump Tower.
.@NYCMayor Bill de Blasio tells Wolf Blitzer that he is banning all large gatherings in New York City except for Black Lives Matter protests.
Wolf Blitzer follows up by asking about the U.S. Open. pic.twitter.com/KGsnAdXDhK
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 9, 2020
