Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani insisted Monday that the kind of riots breaking out across the country never would have happened when he was in charge of the city.
After several nights of protests inspired by the death of George Floyd in police custody — which included an NYPD vehicle set ablaze in Brooklyn and looting in Manhattan — Giuliani took shots at Democrats while touting his own record.
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“These riots can be prevented,” Giuliani tweeted Monday morning. “I did it with massive protests of police brutality kept lawful. I did it following 2 major riots under my predecessor; a pogrom in Crown Heights and a riot in Washington Heights. A riot was impossible when I was Mayor.”
Giuliani referenced clashes between black and Jewish residents in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn in 1991 and a riot in Washington Heights following a police shooting in 1992 under then-Mayor David Dinkins. Just months following the Washington Heights riot, Dinkins blamed Giuliani — who was running for mayor at the time — for encouraging an unruly mob of police officers who were protesting outside City Hall.
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Giuliani’s Monday morning message came soon after he tweeted against Democratic mayors whose cities have been hit hard by violent demonstrations in recent days.
“Now with 7 days of Mob rule of cities with mostly DEMOCRAT MAYORS, it is obvious that these Mayors are incapable of protecting their citizens,” Giuliani said. “They enable the rioters by abandoning police precincts for burning and ordering police to stand down and be assaulted without arrest.”
Giuliani did not mention current Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio by name in his tweets, but he has been highly critical of him in the past. De Blasio was blasted on social media Sunday night for posting status updates that indicated that protest activity was under control, as stores were looted, protesters and police clashed, and de Blasio’s own daughter was arrested.
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“Just checked on situation around the Barclays Center. Lots of protesters moving around and plenty of police presence. On my way now to check on Lower Manhattan,” de Blasio posted. Three minutes later, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson expressed disbelief.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea told “Fox & Friends” Monday morning that Sunday’s protests began peacefully, but that “when it got dark, things changed and it changed rapidly.”
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