Mayor Adams warns of NYPD settlement banning ‘kettling’ as anti-Israel protests rage
The NYPD’s controversial settlement agreement in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations is “troubling” and has made officers “hesitant” when responding to large, out-of-control marches, Mayor Eric Adams warned Tuesday — as the Big Apple has been rocked by fiery anti-Israel protests.
The department agreed to abandon “kettling” — the crowd-control tactic of herding and confining protesters to a small area before making arrests — as part of a settlement announced in September resolving several federal lawsuits claiming officers used excessive force during the George Floyd demonstrations.
But as the city is besieged by angry pro-Palestinian protests — where agitators have been spotted brandishing swastika signs — Adams has sounded the alarm.
“The Police Department … [has] to be extremely more hesitant in actions that they would have carried out in the past to keep the peace,” Hizzoner warned during a Tuesday press conference.
“I did not agree with the concept of those changes,” he continued. “I pushed back hard … I thought it put us on a very troubling direction.”
When asked why he agreed to the settlement if he didn’t like the terms, the mayor said city officials thought the deal might worsen if they didn’t agree.
“As soon as I read [it], I said, ‘This is a problem,’” Adams said. “You know, you have to go by the advice of your attorneys.”
The city has been rocked by pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the wake of Hamas’ sickening sneak Oct. 7 attack on Israel — some of which have sought to interrupt major events such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual tree lighting ceremony at the Rockefeller Center.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday in light of the frightening anti-Israel protests, Adams said he doesn’t believe people should be able to “just take over our streets and march in our streets.”
“I don’t believe people should be able to take over our bridges,” he continued.
“I just don’t believe you can run a city this complex where people can just do whatever they want.”
Critics argue kettling can cause tensions to rise.
“It really does create this pressure cooker,” Noam Ostrander, a professor at DePaul University who has studied violence in Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune of the tactic.
“You have a lot of people that get confined to a small space, you have people charging towards you, batons flying and ramming bikes into people and shields into people.”
He also argued that the practice is “constitutionally questionable.”
“People are being detained without being told they’re being detained,” he told the publication.
