New Yorkers reportedly painted a massive mural on a street in Brooklyn on Saturday to voice their displeasure with top Democrat leaders in the state.
The mural specifically targeted New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio with the following message: “F*** Cuomo And De Blasio.”
“The not-so-subtle shout-out to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio went up around 1 a.m. Saturday on North 15th Street between Wythe Avenue and Banker Street in Williamsburg, during the waning hours of an annual block party which this year doubled as a ‘small business owner protest,'” the New York Post reported. “The all-caps, block-length message was in the style of city-sanctioned projects reading ‘Black Lives Matter’ that sprang up during the summer’s fierce protests over police bias and racial injustice — including one outside Manhattan’s Trump Tower, which has become a vandalism magnet.”
“A few partygoers got the idea to paint in huge [letters, using] yellow paint with rollers on North 15th, ‘F–k Cuomo and de Blasio,’” a person told the New York Post. “The party continued. Everyone took photos. It was a big hit. The crowds cheered, even the cops chuckled.”
New Yorkers painted a massive "f*ck Cuomo and De Blasio" on a street in Brooklyn. https://t.co/nMffrgL28d pic.twitter.com/nUYUUeJ8ri
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 21, 2020
The news comes as the Department of Justice designated New York City as an “anarchist jurisdiction” on Monday for allowing violent riots while trying to defund law enforcement.
The DOJ released the following criteria for evaluating whether a U.S. city is an “anarchist jurisdiction”:
- Whether a jurisdiction forbids the police force from intervening to restore order amid widespread or sustained violence or destruction.
- Whether a jurisdiction has withdrawn law enforcement protection from a geographical area or structure that law enforcement officers are lawfully entitled to access but have been officially prevented from accessing or permitted to access only in exceptional circumstances, except when law enforcement officers are briefly withheld as a tactical decision intended to resolve safely and expeditiously a specific and ongoing unlawful incident posing an imminent threat to the safety of individuals or law enforcement officers.
- Whether a jurisdiction disempowers or defunds police departments.
- Whether a jurisdiction unreasonably refuses to accept offers of law enforcement assistance from the Federal Government.
- Any other related factors the Attorney General deems appropriate.
The department gave the following summary about New York City:
- Shootings in New York City have been on the rise since looting and protests began on or about May 28, 2020. For July 2020, shootings increased from 88 to 244, an increase of 177% over July 2019. In August 2020, shootings increased from 91 to 242, a 166% increase over August 2019.
- While the city faced increased unrest, gun violence, and property damage, the New York City Council cut $1 billion from NYPD’s FY21 budget.
- The budget resulted in the cancellation of the new police recruiting class, cuts to overtime spending, and the transfer of certain police functions, including school safety, out of the NYPD.
- Meanwhile, the Manhattan and Brooklyn District Attorneys have declined to prosecute charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly arising from the protests, and the District Attorneys in Queens and the Bronx have declined to prosecute other protest-related charges.
- Both Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo have forcefully rejected federal law enforcement support.
This report has been updated to include additional information.