N.Y. Won’t Enforce Curfew at Parks to Prevent Riots
NEW YORK — The city will not enforce a 1 a.m. curfew at most parks this summer to prevent violence similar to a weekend riot that left 38 people injured, officials said Monday.
“The weather is very hot. The beaches are closed. People are really angry about (the curfew),†Mayor Edward I. Koch said of the confrontation early Sunday in Tompkins Square Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Koch also blamed “provocateurs,†saying they incited the violence by throwing bottles and fireworks at police.
“There are people looking for confrontation. . . . And if they take on a cop, it’s at their peril,†he said.
At least 450 police officers tangled with 250 demonstrators who gathered in the street outside Tompkins Square Park to protest its closing. Witnesses charged that protesters and bystanders were beaten without cause.
Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward said police tried to close the park at the request of residents who complained of loud music and drug dealing.
Neither Koch nor Ward would say if officers used undue force.
“I don’t know of any extreme use of force,†Ward said. But the Civilian Complaint Review Board said it had received 23 complaints about police conduct.
Koch aides distributed photocopies of flyers at a news conference said to have been handed out by demonstrators. One warned landlords around Tompkins Square that if the curfew were enforced “our organization will destroy your homesâ€; another was bordered with drawings of guns and explosives. Koch called them the work of “provocateurs.â€
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