Inside the Mayhem and Police Violence at Last Night’s Brooklyn Protest
Mother Jones/Mark Helenowski
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Over the past few days, nationwide protests against police violence have turned into an alarming display of the very treatment protesters are rallying against.
I live in Brooklyn and followed this weekend’s protests from my apartment, endlessly scrolling through videos: protesters being run over by a police car, cops shoving an elderly man a with cane to the pavement, all manner of aggressive police escalation, and journalists being explicitly targeted and injured time and time and time again.
But I got a firsthand view of the mayhem—and the police-fueled violent escalation—when I arrived in the Flatbush neighborhood late last night to cover the protests.
The scene was a tinderbox. In the majority-Black neighborhood, shouting filled the streets while several police helicopters throbbed overhead and NYPD officers confronted protesters with varying levels of force. I captured only a sliver of the action on-camera, but enough to show how some officers intensified an already-fraught situation with violent conduct: shoving a woman into a city bus, charging full-speed into groups of already retreating protesters, tackling a seriously injured man, and roughing up journalists and camerapeople (myself included).
Videos of all that (and more) in my tweets below:
She was shoved into an MTA bus multiple times—then had a message for the NYPD:
“Beat me. You wanna beat me so bad? Beat me, bitch. I’m finna die for my people.” pic.twitter.com/xmbCqnQXgq
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 31, 2020
Backstory:
When I first arrived, saw a cameraguy in bad pain. Said his foot is broken & phone is dead. Lives nearby w wife & 2 kids.
Lent him my charger, he calls a friend. I supported his full body weight to help him to a pickup spot & left.
Thought that was it. 20 min later: pic.twitter.com/nIJZU3UTPq
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 31, 2020
If you made it to the end of the last clip, you’ve been introduced to this woman who seems to have been tear-gassed.
People try water spraying her face with water. It doesn’t help.
She needs milk of magnesia to quell the burning. pic.twitter.com/FoQ6EqA4hK
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 31, 2020
Leaving the protest, I noticed a graffitied police car.
Someone made an addition to the NYPD slogan of “Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect.” pic.twitter.com/Bp557IUFOG
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 31, 2020
Alright, I think that’s it for the night. Time to wind down.
Stay safe everyone! pic.twitter.com/6XMMFjDtEW
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 31, 2020
Mother Jones/Mark Helenowski
