Mayor Bill de Blasio allowed Black demonstrators to continue marching through the city streets while canceling all major events until September.
Speaking on CNN late Thursday, de Blasio said the demonstrators’ call for social justice was too important to be stopped after more than a month of demonstrations did not lead to the outbreak of coronavirus cases.
“This is a moment of historic change. We have to respect that, but also tell people the type of meetings we usually do, parades, exhibitions – we can’t have that while we focus on health now, “de Blasio told host Wolf Blitzer.
The exception came because infection rates in New York remained consistent through civil unrest over the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd.
A late June study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found no evidence that coronavirus cases surged in 315 cities in the weeks after the first protest. The researchers determined that protests might be offset by increased social distance between those who decided not to line up.
The researchers reasoned that the protest might be offset by an increase in social distance between those who decided not to line up.
The closure of City Hall will include large parades such as the West American Indian Carnival Day on the Brooklyn Labor Day weekend, the Dominican Day Parade in the middle of Manhattan and the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy.
The de Blasio administration will also refuse all permits for events in the park that are believed to be “unreasonably reducing public use” as well as street exhibitions and events that span more than one block or for meetings that require a sound system.
