NEW YORK - Three people were arrested and two police officers were assaulted during New York City protests over the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers, New York Police Department officials said Saturday.
The three arrests all took place near Seventh Avenue and 43rd Street in Midtown around 8:15 p.m. Friday, where one of the protesters jumped on the hood of an idling NYPD police cruiser and kicked in the windshield, officials said.
Cops arrested the 33-year-old windshield stomper, identified as Argenis Rivera, charging him with criminal mischief. A second protester, 34-year-old Katherine Stone, was also grabbed for trying to graffiti the same cruiser.
As cops went in to arrest Rivera, 25-year-old protester Candy Nicole tried to shove them away, striking two cops in the face as she tried to stop the arrest, cops said.
Police arrested her for assault as a hate crime for making anti-cop statements as she socked one of the cops in the nose. Neither cop was seriously injured.
Arraignments for Rivera and Nicole at Manhattan Criminal Court were pending Saturday. Stone was given a desk appearance ticket and is expected to answer the charges in court next month.
More than 100 protesters showed up at two protests in both Times Square and Union Square Friday night as a horrifying video of Tyre Nichols being fatally beaten by five Black Memphis police officers was released.
All five officers were fired and charged with murder before the video was released.
The three arrested Friday night were among the Union Square protesters who began marching north along Seventh Avenue, cops said.
"The only way we get through this is unity - I'm not talking about that khumbaya unity," a man with a loudspeaker said at the Union Square protest. "I'm talking about that 'if they f- with us, we f- s- up' type of unity."
Protesters in Times Square shut down traffic along Broadway as they marched to Penn Station.
Both protests appeared to have broken up before 11 p.m.
The NYPD had braced for "robust protests" in the city on Friday as the video was released. City cops were asked to stay on duty rather than closing out at the end of their shifts and each precinct was tasked with assigning a sergeant and eight officers in riot gear in case protest numbers swelled.
"We will have an increased police presence over the next days to ensure that people who choose to are able to express themselves freely and safely," Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said on Twitter.
"Our responsibility is to protect the constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest. While we understand, appreciate, and share the high emotional charge of this tragedy, our Department will never tolerate violence, willful destruction, or any other criminality," Sewell said.
More protests are planned in the five boroughs through the weekend.
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