The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Riot also known as the City Hall Riot, was a rally organized and sponsored by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York (PBA) held on September 16, 1992, to protest mayor David Dinkins' proposal to create a civilian agency to investigate police misconduct.[1][2] Approximately 4,000 NYPD officers took part in a protest that included blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and jumping over police barricades in an attempt to rush City Hall.[3] Rioters were observed to be openly drinking, damaging cars, and physically attacking journalists from the New York Times on the scene. Rioters also chanted racial epithets towards the African-American Mayor Dinkins. The nearly 300 uniformed on-duty officers did little to control the riot.[4][5][6]
I don't have to say it, but I will: Imagine if the protesters in LA did this.
Following the riot, Mayor Dinkins condemned the participating officers, saying "If some officers in full view of a camera and public and their superiors or officers would use racial slurs, yelling 'n-----s,' and some of the signs they were carrying ... I fear how they would behave when they are out in the streets."[9] Dinkins also blamed Giuliani for his involvement, who he claimed egged on the crowd for opportunistic purposes, saying "he's seizing upon a fragile circumstance in our city for his own political gain."[6] Acting Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that the riots and lack of arrests following it, "raised serious questions about the department's willingness and ability to police itself."[1]
Rudy Giuliani pushed back against Dinkins' accusation, saying that his comments were "desperate and offensive," and claimed that he had urged the rioters to move away from City Hall.[6] Giuliani sympathized with the rioters and blamed Dinkins for the unrest, saying "one of the reasons those police officers might have lost control is that we have a mayor who invites riots."[9]
In case you've wondered how long Giuliani's been a lying shit, it's since at least before he was mayor.
PBA President Phil Caruso conceded that the protest "got out of hand", and blamed the riots and violence on both Mayor Dinkins and City Councilman Guillermo Linares, a Dominican-American representative the Washington Heights neighborhood who was critical of the police in the wake of the Garcia shooting and subsequent riots the previous July. However, Caruso sympathized with the actions of the rioting officers, saying "sometimes, in order to convey a message clearly and graphically, especially on the part of police officers, you have to see it, feel the intensity."[9]
Again, if these weren't cops, they'd have been shot for "conveying a message clearly and graphically."