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The mayor and the governor, both Democrats, also announced that they would “double the police presence” in the face of the demonstrations which have shaken the first American metropolis since Thursday evening.
Confrontations between demonstrators and police have increased, with burnt cars and looting of stores this weekend, especially on the main thoroughfare of Broadway in Manhattan.
“The protests were generally calm. We cannot let violence undermine the message of this moment, ”said de Blasio, quoted in a statement.
He also promised that the police would be “held accountable” in the event of further police brutality, and that the police chief would speak about it later in the day.
Governor Cuomo pointed out that there were “people who take advantage of this moment for personal profit.”
“The violence and the looting that has taken place are bad for the city, the state and all this movement, undermining and diverting from a just cause,” he insisted.
The announcement comes as new protests began, with around 1,000 people already gathered in Times Square by mid-afternoon Monday, pending further gatherings scheduled for late afternoon in the Brooklyn and Queens districts.
Some protesters, however, immediately declared their intention not to respect the curfew.
“People will not respect him,” Shina Moore, a 23-year-old black woman, who works in a Starbucks cafe, told AFP.
“Cuomo is our governor, he does a good job but it is not his fight (…) These demonstrations will last as long as it takes – a day, a week, a month, a year”, she said.
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