'There will be riots, fires and violence': the leader of Black Lives Matter threatens Eric Adams

Hawk Newsom, the leader of Black Lives Matter in New York, said on November 10 that if elected mayor Eric Adams fulfills his campaign promise to re-establish a secret police unit to combat crime, there will be "riots" and "bloodshed". New York Post.

Newsom made such comments after meeting Adams, which was broadcast live on Instagram. While the two agreed on several points, they were arguing over the return of a unit of plainclothes police to tackle the city's rising levels of violent crime.

“If they are thinking of going back to the old ways of policing, then we’ll take to the streets again,” Newsom told reporters after the meeting. "Riots will break out, fire will break out and bloodshed will occur."

“We will be at his front door, we will be at the Gracie Mansion (the official residence of the Mayor of New York. - Ed.), we will be on the streets if he allows the police to insult us, ”warned Newsom.

“I am not threatening anyone. I'm just saying it's natural reaction aggressive oppression. People will react, ”he said.

Adams does not intend to concede

Adams, a former NYPD captain and current president of the Brooklyn Borough, was elected mayor in November and will take over as mayor on January 1. The moderate Democrat has pledged that the undercover crime-fighting unit will return to patrolling city streets. The unit was disbanded in 2020 during protests against police brutality that swept New York after the assassination of George Floyd.

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During a closed-door meeting with Black Lives Matter leaders, Adams said, “There is one thing we agree on. This is what we need to change the conditions in which people live, the historical conditions. And so far these conditions have not changed. "

Among other things, Adams urged BLM leaders not to shift responsibility to others, but to get involved in the fight against crime.

“Stop the violence in my community. I challenge you to answer, ”he told them. - Don't blame everything on me. As mayor, president of borough, state senator, I risk my body for my community. So I'm not here for people to come and say, 'Eric, we're going to hold you accountable.'

As for Newsom's threats, Adams does not intend to back down from his plan to rebuild plainclothes police units.

“This is stupid, and I think New Yorkers should not tolerate this kind of rhetoric,” the mayor-elect commented on Newsom's threat. He called the BLM leaders "a marginal group of only 13 people" that "is not representative of the entire Black Lives Matter movement." Newsom objected to this characterization and stated, "It is disingenuous that he downplays the influence of our organization when we are seen as the global voices of the movement."

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“There are very few things that scare me,” said Adams. "New Yorkers will not live in fear, and we will not let anyone intimidate us ... I will not betray myself."

The elected mayor noted that at the meeting itself there were no threats and demands from the leaders BLM was not voiced.

“They didn't say any of that in the meeting,” Adams said. - I came to a very clear conclusion: there should be no danger in my city, and this is what I will work on. I have a clear plan: to assemble a squad of plainclothes police officers to fight with weapons. We will do it - and the city will be safe. "