Staten Island residents took to the streets Tuesday night to block a bus carrying illegal immigrants to a shelter in an action denounced by Mayor Eric Adams as “ugly.”
Ten people were arrested in the fracas, during which protesters banged on the side of the bus and halted traffic as the bus sought to get to a former assisted living center that has been converted to a shelter, according to the New York Post.
Police said 10 people were taken into custody. Nine received summonses for disorderly conduct. One allegedly assaulted an officer.
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Staten Island NY. ( full video)
Choas erupts at the Midland Beach Nursing home after residents blocked a bus full of migrants from being housed at the location. Multiple arrests broke out.
🎥 by @LeeroyPress
For licensing email [email protected] #Migrants #UNGA #NYC pic.twitter.com/KC8RTXwIiI— Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) September 20, 2023
Protester Sal Monforte said Wednesday that police exacerbated the situation.
“People were getting arrested for no reason. The 10 people that got arrested last night should never have gotten arrested,” he said.
Monforte suggested Adams called out the police to put protesters in their place.
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“Last night, there were more than 200 police officers. There were more police than protesters. It was an overstep by the mayor giving orders like this,” he said.
Midland Beach Staten Island NY
After NYPD officers moved the frustrated residents way from the nursing home, the city bus was able to bring the migrants into the building
🎥 by @LeeroyPress
For licensing email [email protected] pic.twitter.com/ZhjGqJ50B8— Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) September 20, 2023
Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, said the protests will not stop.
“As I told them, they don’t have enough handcuffs, they don’t have enough cops, they don’t have enough cars. We’re going to be out here 24/7, 365, and the illegals are not going to want to come here. They should stay in Manhattan,” he said, according to WABC-TV.
Republican City Council Member David Carr deplored the opening of the shelter, according to SILive.
“The city continues to dig its own grave even deeper with each new shelter it opens, and it is doing so yet again,” he said.
“Almost a week after the mayor ordered city agencies to cut their budgets by 5 percent by November — which will no doubt gut the services our residents depend upon — the administration is planning to move more migrants into homes reserved for our seniors, right in the middle of Midland Beach.”
Midland Beach Staten Island @CurtisSliwa comments on the arrests and gates that are being put around the nursing home pic.twitter.com/EnbXKecX7L
— Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) September 20, 2023
Adams called the incident an “ugly display,” according to the Post.
“We have 8.3 million New Yorkers. So, if the numerical minority decide to use hateful terms and hateful words — that is not a reflection of who the city is,” he added.
