Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good evening, everybody. It's been a long day in this city, but at the end of this day, I can say that New Yorkers all over the city have acted in the way we believe in, in this city, except for a very few individuals. New Yorkers have expressed their desire to address real issues and to address them the right way. And that's the peaceful protesters who have been out today and then the millions of people who watched what was going on but didn't participate. But there were a small number who chose to commit acts of violence who are here only unfortunately to agitate and to attack those who protect us, our police officers. And that's just unacceptable. I spent a lot of time today in Brooklyn, a lot of time today in Manhattan, and what I saw was some very, very systematic efforts by a very few people to create a negative atmosphere.
And those people do not represent the values of New York City and what they are doing is not going to help us move forward in New York City. I'm joined here by Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, by commissioner Marco Carrion. Just like me, they've been out around the city and what we have seen, again, a small number of people, in the scheme of things, protesting to begin with, very few of whom committed acts of violence, but that few was systematic in their efforts to harm police officers and to create damage to police vehicles, to storefronts, to other property. And that's not going to get us anywhere. So, to the peaceful protestors, if any of you are still out there tonight or trying to work peacefully for change, let me be very clear. We hear your desire to see these issues, relationship between police and community, the need for justice, the need for real change in our society.
We hear you loud and clear. We appreciate and respect all peaceful protests, but now it is time for people to go home. If you went out peacefully to make a point about the need for change, you have been heard and change is coming in the city. I have no doubt about that. It's time to go home so we can all move forward. But those who are out there simply to create violence, those who are out there to express hatred towards our police officers. We won't tolerate that. If you're out there to commit an act of violence, you're going to get arrested tonight. There are fewer and fewer people out at this point, and those who are engaged in negative violent activity, they will feel the consequences of that activity. So, look, the NYPD all day long has been working hard. It's been a very, very difficult day for our officers. Some of them have been put into very dangerous situations and that's not appropriate. That's not the protest reality and history that we believe in in this city.
We believe in peaceful protest. We believe in civil disobedience. We believe in people exercising their democratic rights, but not attacking police officers, not attacking communities. And what I heard from elected officials today and community members was how resentful they were that people were coming in many cases from outside the community and creating negativity and violence that did not represent their community. So, look, we got a lot of work to do in this city, but this is a place that is capable of great change and great progress. It always has been and I have a lot of faith in the people in New York City. We will get through this moment, we will make the changes we need to.
At the same time, we're fighting a crisis, a huge crisis of the coronavirus, a pandemic, and we're fighting that together as one New York City. The story of these last three months has been New Yorkers uniting to fight back a crisis that we could never have imagined, to fight back a disease we didn't even know about. New Yorkers came together to do that and the reason this city is getting healthier and safer all the time is because New Yorkers banded together. So, we will band together again to overcome the challenges we face. That is how New York City moves forward.
