De Blasio will not address BLM leader’s threat of ‘bloodshed’ in the streets.
Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly sidestepped Thursday’s questions about a Black Lives Matter leader’s threat of “riots,” “fire,” and “bloodshed” on city streets if his successor Eric Adams keeps his promise to campaign to reestablish the NYPD’s anti-gun unit – while the incoming mayor stood his ground.
De Blasio’s press secretary, Danielle Filson, blocked attempts by a Post reporter to ask the mayor about New York BLM co-founder Hawk Newsome’s inflammatory comments as Hizzoner marched in the Veterans Day parade for the Fifth Avenue.
Filson first said it was not the right time to ask the question, then declined to provide a comment from the mayor after the event.
In contrast, Brooklyn Borough President Adams made it clear to the BLM leader and his acolytes that he will not back down from the fight against crime.
“This is what I am going to do. That was my promise and I will keep it, ”he said on Thursday about the return of the officers in civilian clothes to take the weapons from the streets.
Adams also scoffed at Newsome’s talk of violence as “silly” adding, “I think New Yorkers shouldn’t allow rhetoric like that.”
“This city is not going to be a city of riots, it is not going to be a city on fire,” promised the future mayor.
Meanwhile, De Blasio was interrupted by parade spectators as he marched. Many criticize him for being soft on crime.
“Boo!” shouted Jill Krause, 60, who described de Blasio as “a horrible and corrupt man.”
“He has destroyed this city. Yet New Yorkers are survivors, praise God, ”he said.
“De Blasio, stop throwing cops under the bus. Treat them well, ”yelled another detractor who gave his first name as Raif.
Newsome, who met with the mayor-elect at his Brooklyn Borough Hall office on Wednesday, later told The Post that he never sat down with de Blasio because the current mayor is a “buffoon.”
Filson referred The Post to comments de Blasio made last week about Adams’s intention to reinvent the NYPD’s crime unit that targeted gangs and firearms, but was involved in a number of high-profile police killings, including the death of Eric Garner.
“I think it was good policy,” de Blasio said during a crime statistics briefing about his decision to disband the unit after protests sparked by George Floyd’s death. “But I also respect that the mayor-elect has a vision, and I think it’s a well-informed vision and I’m sure he will do it in a way that he believes in.”
Adams’s plan to remake the unit is what prompted Newsome to unleash the heated rhetoric.
“If they think they are reverting to the old ways of policing, then we will hit the streets again,” Newsome warned outside Borough Hall Wednesday after meeting with Adams.
“There will be riots. There will be fire and there will be bloodshed, ”he threatened.