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We Canโ€™t Lose the Right to Protest in the Age of Coronavirus

We Canโ€™t Lose the Right to Protest in the Age of Coronavirus

From Emma Goldmanโ€™s fiery speeches at Union Square during the Gilded Age through Occupy Wall Street in the Bloomberg era, the New York City leftโ€™s fight for social justice has often encompassed a simultaneous battle on behalf of the First Amendment right to protest.

Yet amid the current pandemic, the cityโ€™s progressive mayor, Democrat Bill de Blasio, has deemed public protests โ€œnon-essentialโ€ gatherings, and NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea (a registered Republican) is enforcing the ban.

Last week cops dispersed a gathering of LGBTQ activists speaking out against the alliance between Mt. Sinai Hospital and Samaritanโ€™s Purse, an anti-gay, Islamophobic evangelical organization. The eventโ€™s participants adhered to the cityโ€™s social-distancing guidelines.

A few days prior, large crowds had gathered across the city to watch a decidedly non-essential flyover by the Blue Angels, and although many onlookers did not practice social distancing, there was no NYPD enforcement.