New York City is expecting protests over the weekend and into next week to mark one year since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. It's a big job, but the New York Police Department is prepared to handle it, Chief of Patrol John Chell told Newsmax Friday.
On "American Agenda," Chell noted his force is 35,000 strong and said, "Since last October, we're over 4,100 protests to date. So we're used to it. We know how to move fast. We know how to move our resources around.
"And we tell our cops, 'Be firm but fair. Be firm but fair.' But to the best of our ability, we're not going to tolerate nonsense. And I think we've shown that."
He added that they were under scrutiny.
"And the world watches us. And then the country watches us. We try to set that standard, but it's a fine line. It is tasking on us ... but we get it done," he said.
Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry weighed in: "Let me just say shout out and thank you to the [Strategic Response Group] officers because a lot of times, officers that are assigned to these protests, the mobile field forces that are assigned to these protests, don't get the accolades and the credit they deserve."
He said they often they have protesters "yelling at them, screaming at their face, calling them all types of names."
Daughtry added: "We want people to go out there to exercise their First Amendment rights. However, I just want New Yorkers to know that when protests turn violent, when folks want to start blocking traffic, stopping our ambulances, our police cars, our fire trucks, our emergency apparatus ... the gloves are off and we're, we're going to take some action and we are going to put people in jail."
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Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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