Last night, police in New York city kettled hundreds of protestors on the Manhattan Bridge, preventing them from dispersing for hours, even after curfew fell. The New York Times reports that the protestors "found a way" around police blocking access to the Brooklyn end of the bridge, which seems an unlikely scenario, but nonetheless offers details on them being subsequently held there.
As the curfew descended on Tuesday, hundreds of protesters made their way from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn onto the Manhattan Bridge with the goal of continuing their march on the other side. They wound up hemmed in from both ends for roughly two hours.
Two New York Times reporters who followed with the protesters onto the bridge documented the episode, which ultimately ended peacefully, in a series of tweets.
The police tried to block entry to the bridge on the Brooklyn side.
Some people found a way on anyway
A large group walked across toward the Manhattan side.
Once they reached Manhattan, a police blockade kept them from exiting.
The crowd became increasingly restless as police vehicles arrived.
The demonstrators were eventually allowed to return to Brooklyn.
Police not allowing protestors from Barclays across the Manhattan Bridge pic.twitter.com/kbXfeSKJxj
— Sandra E. Garcia (@S_Evangelina) June 3, 2020
With group of protestors who bypassed police blocking the Manhattan bridge who crossed side street, hopped a barrier to enter from another direction. pic.twitter.com/uDgPvcQTxO
— Amy Julia Harris (@amyjharris) June 3, 2020
Crossing the Manhattan bridge at dusk with hundreds of protestors while cars honk in solidarity pic.twitter.com/XvtYrlqYzH
— Amy Julia Harris (@amyjharris) June 3, 2020
And here's footage reportedly from the "Brooklyn Bridge", but I'm mostly sure it's from the Manhattan Bridge.
@NYCMayor @NYGovCuomo alongside NYPD have blocked protesters and trapped us on the Brooklyn bridge on the Manhattan side. Told us wait ten minutes it’s been 50 minutes and they just bought two big ass cans. pic.twitter.com/jncfAG6RDi
— Fvizs (@Fviz_s) June 3, 2020
my friend’s phone is dying (i’m not in NY, he is), but he asked that i post this video.
protestors are blocked in on the brooklyn bridge, per this video!
they’ve been out since 2pm pic.twitter.com/9KzUBDCyRR
— … (@DaShaunLH) June 3, 2020
An interesting rumor was that cellphone cameras stopped working for a time. Given the likelihood of overloaded networks, efforts to stream video would likely have failed frequently, and there's obviously plenty of footage from the bridge going around. But Apple was recently granted a patent on remotely disabling iPhone cameras: a perfect example of a purported copyright protection measure of obvious of use to authorities who do not wish to be held accountable.
