A smashed library screen at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn (Rhododendrites / CC BY-SA)
June 5, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Local lawmakers are warning the public about a possible ‘loot-out’ planned for Jackson Heights and surrounding neighborhoods today.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, Assembly Member Catalina Cruz and Council Member Francisco Moya issued an emergency joint statement last night decrying a ‘loot-out’ planned for 5 p.m.
The loot-out is planned for East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Corona, in areas where the majority of stores are mom-and-pop shops owned by immigrants, the lawmakers said. They did not say exactly where the looting is planned.
Should the loot out take place, it would come at a time when many of the businesses have already been devastated by the coronavirus shutdown. The lawmakers said many of the local shop owners have also received no economic relief and a looting could be the final straw.
“Our community has been ravaged by COVID and the threat of further destruction is absolutely heartbreaking,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Sixty percent of our neighborhoods’ population are immigrants who drive our local economy and we cannot allow a lack of city resources or counterproductive protesters to take away their only means of survival,” Ramos, Cruz and Moya wrote.
They denounced acts of violence, looting and the destruction of private property.
Groups of looters have taken advantage of unrest in the city in the wake of protests against the police killing of George Floyd.
They have smashed in windows of storefronts along entire blocks and grabbed hand fulls of items from major chain stores in Manhattan’s shopping corridors — such as Macy’s iconic flagship store and a luxury Chanel store in Soho — as well as small businesses in the Bronx.
Earlier in the week, buzz about a loot-out planned at Queens Center Mall on Monday surfaced on social media.
However, no looting actually happened at the mall, according to Council Member Robert Holden, who spoke with the commanding officer of the 110th Precinct.
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10 Comments
Nothing happened or planned, do they really think people sit around and plan to loot places like that? More fear mongering
Would you look at that nothing happen all fear mongering to store the bigots in our neighborhood
DeBlasio city ????, He doesn’t let the police do their job.
Not just DeBlasio. The whole progressive machine is trying to impede police to do their job. They talk about biases and racial discrimination but then lump all the police and people who oppose them into one lump, call them names and attack. Hypocrisy much?
Does it matter if the neighborhood is full of immigrants or not? Looting is looting and should not be okay under any circumstances. Also it does more than the material harm in the grand scheme of things. All these politicians are trying to divide us.
Good thing it didn’t happen and was all made up to begin with
Contact the 115th precinct immediately
115pct and 110pct just know to give out summons to people. Useless and a waste of money, resources.
if they did actual police work they would be condemned as thugs and racist. Defund them. Can’t wait for the return of the 1970s when crime was rampant, buildings burned regularly, parked cars were stripped bare and people lived in fear. The bad old days. I can’t wait. Rents will plummet and these supporters of people’s rights will flee to whiter plains.
I can’t wait either Paul ? , I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks like this ?