Protests against police brutality turn to violence in Albany – Times Union

ALBANY City and community leaders Sunday grappled with the fallout from Saturday demonstrations against police brutality that were at first peaceful, but then turned into aggression toward police officers, vandalism and looting - the likes of which the city has not seen in recent memory.

Dozens of businesses worked Sunday to board up broken windows and clean-up the inside of their destroyed storefronts, as others prepared for what might happen Sunday night after both Albany and Schenectady instituted curfews. The same scene was played out in cities across the nation this past weekend in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis on May 25 after a police officer placed his knee on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed on the ground.

"This set us back years, said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, who said 82 members of his department assisted in the city of Albany Saturday night. Apple spoke at Albany County Executive Dan McCoy's daily coronavirus press briefing Sunday morning, which was turned into a talk about the confrontations. What happened in this county, this city last night was despicable.

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan held a press conference Sunday morning on the steps of City Hall to address what happened Saturday about an hour after peaceful protests ended at the city police's South Station.

Officials acknowledged that the shutdowns in response to the pandemic which has caused people stress, depression and anxiety has only fueled people's dismay about continued abuses against the black community. But Sheehan said the people who committed the violence late Saturday were not those who had peacefully marched earlier in the day.

I acknowledge that there is a tremendous amount of pain. There is pain because of what we witnessed with a police officer literally suffocating an individual in custody, Sheehan said.

However, she continued, the violence that emerged in Albany later Saturday night was not about a protest that violence was about a riot.

She issued a curfew for the city from 7 p.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday in an attempt to maintain order. Businesses were putting plywood over their windows Sunday late afternoon worried that the violence would continue for a second night. Schenectady instituted a curfew also fearing violence would erupt in that city. On Sunday afternoon, protests were peaceful in the Electric City as Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford and other officers were seen in a photo shared on twitter taking a knee in solidarity with protestors.

This is not about the police stopping and hassling people for being out, she said. This is about a curfew that we are putting out there as a signal to our residents to be safe.

But community activists say the emotions that led to the violence were real and valid, and the conversations focusing on the violence misses the perspective of what is at stake.

Theres a moment happening across our nation, and its happening peacefully and its happening with uprisings, said Amy Jones, a community organizer with Citizen Action of New York. These are people with no structural power. What theyre seeing and feeling is a moment of empowerment. But pain plus trauma can equal rage. And the oppressor cannot tell oppressed people how to protest their oppression.

Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins said the city has gotten anecdotal comments from those at the incidents that they did not recognize the people who were responsible for some of the violence. Police are investigating those comments. Hawkins was pressed by reporters about where he was Saturday, and he eventually confirmed he was not in Albany. But he refused to explain where he was or why. "I had other business. I was communicating all day with my command staff," Hawkins said.

One officer was sent to the hospital Saturday night after they were hit with a brick and sustained a head injury. The officer has since been sent home. Two people were arrested during the confrontations, but police said it was for burglary charges that were unknown to have been related to the violence.

Meanwhile, other gun violence continued in Albany, as a 15-year-old and 18-year-old were both injured in gunfire during unrelated incidents.

READ MORE:Damage on South Pearl Street after Saturday violence

Businesses and government buildings along South Pearl Street and Central Avenue had their windows smashed late Saturday night, in addition to people throwing rocks, lighting fireworks that were directed toward police horses and setting fire to objects around the police's South Station. People stole cash registers and cell phones out of stores. Graffiti was also written on buildings on South Pearl Street. A truck driver also lost the items in his flatbed after people set the contents on fire, Apple said.

"We are better than what happened last night," Sheehan said. "We will come together, we will work together. Today is a day for all of us to take a deep breath. We need to stay home, keep your kids home."

McCoy said 30 windows were smashed at the Board of Elections on South Pearl Street. Windows were also broken at the county's probation building, department of mental health and the Albany County Judicial Center. Looters also smashed open a glass door at Colonie Center and ran around the empty mall; Colonie police were unsure if items were taken.

"It's troubling to me to see the protestors who take advantage of a situation and turn things upside down," McCoy said, adding "you were being terrorists. It's shameful."

READ MORE:Albany community organizer calls for clean-up after Saturday riots

But local activists stressed that some of Saturdays protesters were grieving the losses of their own George Floyds loved ones who died at the hands of the police or otherwise.

I think everyone personalized it. It opened a wound, Albany County Legislator Carolyn McLaughlin said at a Sunday rally in the South End. Because when you think about this stuff, it brings tears to your eyes, and to think that nobody cares So last night, you dont care about me, I dont care about you either. Right or wrong.

At her press conference, Sheehan criticized that many of the businesses targeted were black- and brown-owned. However, Jones said some of the damage she saw done was by people who didn't live in the immediate neighborhood.

I was at the South Station, she said. It was white kids with backpacks and bandanas covering their faces who threw bricks through the windows of the police car.

Albany police announced Sunday evening that James Vail, a 21-year-old white man from Delmar, had been charged with throwing the brick that hit an Albany police officer around 7 p.m. Saturday. The officer sustained a concussion and was treated at a local hospital.

Barbara Smith, a nationally recognized black feminist, said people are fed up with what she described as the disregard and dehumanization of black life. She, and other activists, believe the focus must not be on the vandalism and burglaries.

I cannot equate a lynching with the destruction of property, Smith said.

And while the fact that many of the targeted Albany businesses are minority-owned is upsetting, Smith said, property destruction during rebellions in response to injustice has been the norm from the Jim Crow-era she lived through and beyond.

Its excruciatingly painful to think about the loss of peoples livelihoods and businesses, she said. But it just is not in the same category as someone having their life choked out of them on video with three other officers standing around watching.

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Protests against police brutality turn to violence in Albany - Times Union