Thousands of protestors BOO Mayor de Blasio during memorial for George Floyd in Brooklyn

Dozens of protesters were arrested across New York City on Thursday night after thousands remained on the streets and continued marching past the 8pm curfew for a fourth night in a row.    

NYPD officers were out in full force following a day of George Floyd demonstrations that continued well into the night in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. 

As night fell, officers in some places did not immediately move in on crowds, while in others they were seen swarming in on hundreds of people and blocking off streets before arresting people without warning.  

It comes after the NYPD was criticized for their tough crackdown on curfew-breakers the previous night, which led to the arrest of 180 protesters, many of whom were pepper sprayed or shoved as police tried to disperse crowds. 

The NYPD has also been slammed for their decision to arrest people for misdemeanor offenses during the protests, rather than issue them summonses. 

As a result, hundreds of New Yorkers who were arrested at protests over the past week remain in custody and are yet to be arraigned after widespread policing on the streets has led to delays in processing. 

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The Legal Aid Society on Thursday filed an emergency petition to release those who have been held for more than 24 hours and are overdue for arraignment, but the request was denied by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge James Burke, The New York Daily News reported.

‘To that end, the entire police department has been deployed and the entire Manhattan DA’s office is all hands on deck and working to relieve the problems which we are currently addressing,’ Burke said.

Police continued carrying out dozens of arrests on Thursday night, still employing aggressive tactics, including kettling and charging towards crowds. 

In midtown Manhattan, several young protesters were seen restrained with zip ties as they sat on the sidewalk waiting to be taken away in a police van.

CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz, who was on 57th Street when cops moved in on crowds, said he witnessed one police officer swing his baton before the captain pulled him back to stop him.

‘They came east, they came west, and they just swarmed this area. It was clear that they wanted to move in and take these demonstrators off the street,’ he said.

In Brooklyn, hundreds of people were seen in a video marching down the street around 9pm before cops suddenly charged toward protesters without warning, prompting hundreds to take off running and disperse. 

In a shocking video uploaded by journalist John Knefel, an NYPD officer wearing a white shirt is seen beating a male cyclist with his baton, before two more cops come along and knock him to the ground and restrain him.

The man, who had been walking along peacefully with his bike, is heard repeatedly shouting: ‘What did I do?’ as cops seize him.

Over in the Bronx, police were seen using more aggressive tactics on protesters who had gathered earlier for a rally hosted by activist group Decolonize This Place.

At one point officers began kettling, or closing in on hundreds of protesters and blocking off East 136th Street and Brook Avenue, before aggressively arresting people. 

Similar tactics were used on a group at Central Park West near 108th street where officers swarmed groups from all sides and began making arrests. 

‘They came from all sides. They kettled us. There was no warning,’ one protester told the New York Post.

Earlier, hundreds of mourners jeered over the embattled mayor’s brief remarks at the Brooklyn service following a night in which videos circulating on social media showed NYPD officers using batons on peaceful demonstrators.  

Demonstrators, among the several thousand in attendance, immediately booed de Blasio as he walked across the stage and chanted: ‘De Blasio go home!’ and ‘Vote them out!’  

De Blasio kept his speech short, urging protesters that Floyd’s death should not be in vain.  

‘We have too much to change in this city and this country,’ he said. ‘We will not be about words in this city; we will be about change.’   

‘For all of us who have not walked a mile in the shoes of the black community, or communities of color, all of us who know white privilege, we need to do more, because we don’t even fully recognize the daily pain that the racism in this society causes,’ he added.

As de Blasio struggled to be heard, many were seen turning their backs to him as he talked. Several others in attendance could be heard shouting for him to resign.  

The mayor left shortly after delivering his speech and later addressed New Yorkers again on Twitter.

‘To George Floyd’s brother, Terrence: thank you for inviting Chirlane and me today and for working to bring our city together. To my fellow New Yorkers, I hear your anger and your grief. And I promise you we won’t let this moment pass without real reform,’ he said. 

An estimated 10,000 people had gathered for the vigil at Cadman Plaza Park in support of Floyd and his family, including brother Terrence, who thanked the crowd for their demonstrations.

‘You are not alone,’ the large crowd chanted before an emotional Terrence Floyd, wearing a mask and a T-shirt bearing his brother’s likeness, thanked them for their support.

‘I thank God for you all showing love to my brother,’ he said.

Terrence, however, spoke out against the violence and chaos that has engulfed the city and the nation in the wake of George’s death, saying his brother was about peace.  

‘I’m proud of the protests but I’m not proud of the destruction. My brother wasn’t about that. The Floyds are a God-fearing family,’ he said. 

‘Power to the people, all of us,’ he added. 

The vigil was one of many memorial services for Floyd that took place on Thursday, with a formal one held at North Central University in Minneapolis, where a number of Hollywood celebrities and politicians including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and members of Congress, including Reps. Ilhan Omar, Sheila Jackson-Lee and Ayana Pressley were in attendance. 

Among the celebrities in attendance were T.I., Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish and Marsai Martin. 

The service took place as a judge less than a mile away set bail at $1million each for three of the four fired Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death. 

It was the first of a series of memorials set for three cities over six days.  

Following the service in Brooklyn, thousands of protesters filed out of Cadman Plaza to march across the Brooklyn Bridge and headed for Foley Square in downtown Manhattan for a seventh night of peaceful demonstrations against police brutality. 

Demonstrators had also gathered in Cadman Plaza on Wednesday night, where videos were taken of officers using batons and pepper spray on nonviolent protesters who remained after the 8pm curfew. 

It comes after 180 people were arrested across the city the previous night for violating curfew, despite the fact that demonstrations had remained largely peaceful in comparison to the violence that wreaked havoc in Manhattan and Brooklyn earlier this week. 

The NYPD has carried out more than 800 arrests since protests began, prompting critics to slam the department’s decision to detain people arrested for misdemeanor offenses during the protests, rather than issue them summonses.

Earlier the mayor said police have used ‘a lot of restraint’ overall, but also added: ‘If at a certain point, officers say, “It’s time, people need to go now,” people need to listen to that.’     

The governor and mayor said protesters should abide by the 8pm curfew put in place earlier this week to deter the violence, vandalism and destruction that followed protests Sunday and Monday nights.

‘If you are violating the curfew and you refuse to leave so you continue to violate the curfew, the police officers have to enforce the law, which is: you´re supposed to off the street,’ Cuomo said.

The citywide curfew, New York’s first in decades, is set to remain in effect through at least Sunday, with the city planning to lift it at the same time it enters the first phase of reopening after more than two months of shutdowns because of the coronavirus.

Wednesday night unfolded without the vandalism and smash-and-grab sprees that forced merchants around the city to board their stores up preemptively, but police said a man ambushed officers on an anti-looting patrol in Brooklyn shortly before midnight, stabbing him in the neck. The attacker was shot by responding officers and was in critical condition.

Two officers suffered gunshot wounds to their hands in the chaos, but all three wounded officers were expected to recover.

Officer Yayonfrant Jean Pierre, who was stabbed in the neck, and the other wounded officers, Randy Ramnarine and Dexter Chiu, were expected to recover.

De Blasio said he was ‘not going to theorize on’ possible motives for the attack.

Protests over Floyd’s death were planned around the city for Thursday along with a statewide moment of silence at 2 p.m. to coincide with another memorial for Floyd taking place in Minneapolis.