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New York police patrols tasked with enforcing restrictions linked to the Covid-19 epidemic are said to be more aggressive towards black and Hispanic communities. After defending the police, the city’s mayor admitted that there was a problem.
From our correspondent in New York,
The criticisms are more and more numerous towards the NYPD, the New York police force. Since the start of the epidemic, the patrols have been responsible for enforcing restrictive measures such as the compulsory wearing of masks and the ban on gatherings.
But the figures reveal a worrying reality, according to civil rights associations and some political leaders: 92% of those fined or arrested are black or Hispanic.
To these figures, we must add videos and photos that have been around social networks for several days. They show smiling police distributing masks to people in the sometimes crowded parks of Manhattan. While in predominantly black neighborhoods, unmasked people are automatically fined, sometimes even violently arrested.
Some do not hesitate to make the comparison with the very controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy of the early 2000s, which automatically targeted minorities.
Heavily criticized, the mayor of New York admitted on Friday that the situation had to be remedied: ” When I saw these figures, I said to myself that there was a problem and that this problem had to be fixed. And we will fix it. We will ensure that all of our communities are treated fairly. »
Bill de Blasio still insisted on the role said ” primordial Of the police in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic.
► See also: United States: New York declares a state of emergency to fight against the coronavirus
