Chiara De Blasio, 25-year-old daughter of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, was arrested by the police for unlawful assembly during the Manhattan protest on Saturday night. The massive protests, sparked by the death of a 46-year-old black man Geroge Floyd, have spread through several cities, with aggressive protesters turning to vandalism and destruction of private and public properties.
Chiara Was Part of Protesters Blocking Traffic
According to a report in The Post, sources said Mayor De Blasio's daughter was arrested with the group of protesters for unlawful assembly and blocking traffic at 12th Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan. The arrest was made at 10.30 pm, an hour before De Blasio urged the protesters to maintain calm. "Chiara had allegedly been blocking traffic on Broadway and was arrested after refusing to move," the source told the publication.
"That was a real hotspot, police cars were getting burned there, people were throwing and yelling, fighting with cops. There were thousands of people in that area at that time," the source added.
In the police report accessed by Daily Mail, it was found that Chiara was among 100 protesters who were arrested following their refusal to disperse and throwing objects at law enforcement officers. The report further detailed that Chiara listed 181 East End Avenue, the mayor's residence at Gracie Mansion, as her address. The source stated that Chiara refrained from revealing her father's name during the arrest. She was released after getting a desk appearance ticket.
So far, nearly 730 people have been arrested by the NYPD since the outbreak of protests in the city last week. De Blasio did not mention about his daughter's arrest during the press conference conducted later.
NYC Mayor Urges Protesters to 'Go Home'
An hour after his daughter's arrest, while addressing a press conference at the NYC Emergency Management headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn, De Blasio urged the protesters to go home. "We appreciate and respect all peaceful protests, but now it is time for people to go home. If you went out peacefully to make a point about the need for change, you have been heard and change is coming in the city. I have no doubt about that. It's time to go home so we can all move forward," said the mayor.
Moments after the news of Chiara's arrest, NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association, while criticizing the Mayor, tweeted: "How can the NYPD protect the city of NY from rioting anarchist when the Mayors object throwing daughter is one of them. Now we know why he is forbidding Mounted Units to be mobilized and keeping the NYPD from doing their jobs."
The tweet also included an image of the arrest information, which included her personal information such as her home address and ID number. However, an hour later, the tweet was taken down by Twitter as it violated the rules of the micro-blogging site.
