At 7:30PM Tuesday night, June 28, as City Council was scheduled to vote on the budget deal, about 100 residents marched from Bloombergville down Broadway to protest at City Hall.
As the protesters reached City Hall, a disruption squad of 13 entered the City Council office building at 250 Broadway, across the street. Chanting “Stop the Vote! Stop the Vote! We have a right to be here!” they sat down in the lobby, locking their arms together to block the entrance from inside.
When word of the action spread, protesters broke off from City Hall and hurried across Broadway to the City Council building. Inside the building, police began separating the protesters and arresting them. Shouting “Let Them Go!” and “They say cut back, we say fight back!” protesters outside surged forward to block the entrance, preventing police from taking the group out the main doors.
As police started bringing the sit-in protesters out a side entrance instead, they were met by more Bloombergville protesters, calling “Let Them Go!” and surrounding the two police vans they were being loaded into and keeping them from being driven off. Police and protesters chased each other for two blocks, stopping the vans and being pushed back so they could keep going.
Protests continued into the night at 250 Broadway and then at the Emigrant Bank Building, 49-51 Chambers Street, where the vote was scheduled to be held around midnight. In the end, the vote on the budget was postponed until Wednesday.
Protests continue today.
First video of last night’s protest:
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