Soho Looting ‘Party’ Goes Viral, de Blasio Downplays NYC Unrest

Mayor Bill de Blasio minimized events of the George Floyd protest in New York City on Wednesday, while a looting party went viral.

“I just want to correct one thing, if I may, that we had a really troubling situation last night in Midtown Manhattan and in one area in the Bronx,” he said during a phone interview with CNN, in reference to the ongoing demonstrations sparked by the alleged murder of George Floyd by members of the Minneapolis Police Department.

“But we had no unrest, no looting in Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island, and most of the Bronx and most of Manhattan, I really want to set that straight,” de Blasio asserted. But just after the statement, a “looting party” in SoHo went viral. The post has since been removed, but a Monday post by the Associated Press shows similar activity in the shopping district.

Despite the (now apparently missing) evidence, de Blasio has remained committed to characterizing the protests as predominantly nonviolent. “There’s a small anarchist group that’s been violent and there’s a small criminal element that’s been violent,” he told CNN, “but you’re talking about an infinitesimal percentage compared to the overwhelming majority of protesters who have been peaceful.”