Coronavirus: Racism Charges Target New York Police

Text by: Loubna Anaki Follow

New York police patrols tasked with enforcing restrictions related to the Covid-19 epidemic are said to be more aggressive towards black and Hispanic communities. After defending the police, the city mayor admitted there was a problem.

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From our correspondent in New York,

There is growing criticism of the NYPD, the New York police. Since the start of the epidemic, patrols have been responsible for enforcing restrictions such as the compulsory wearing of masks and the banning of gatherings.

But the figures reveal a disturbing reality, according to civil rights associations and certain political leaders: 92% of those charged 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 verbalized, and 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.

Very criticized, the mayor of New York acknowledged 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 should be resolved. And we will fix it. We will ensure that all of our communities are treated fairly. "

Bill de Blasio nonetheless insisted on the so-called "  primordial  " role of the police in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic.

► Read also: United States: New York declares a state of emergency to fight against the coronavirus

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