Some 500 people gathered around “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” in Foley Square Wednesday night to protest the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
Protestors chanted “Say her name: Renee Nicole Good” just hours after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers opened fire at close range on the 37-year-old mother as she attempted to flee in a car.
President Trump claimed that Good, whom he called a “professional agitator,” attempted to run the agents down with her car and that officers fired in self-defense.
“What happened in Minneapolis was unbelievable,” Jordan Harald, 57, a retired film industry worker from Manhattan, told a Daily News reporter at the protest. “It’s critical that we’re here. What our country is doing is abhorrent and untenable. We have to fight and stand strong.”
The crowd chanted “We want ICE off our streets,” “No Justice no peace“ and “ No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA” as protesters marched around Foley Square and streets surrounding the nearby US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at 26 Federal Plaza.
“I’m here to support the movement,” said Carlos Bogaert, 34, a bike messenger from Queens. “I’m a proud immigrant from the Dominican Republic and I’m really frustrated about what happened in Minneapolis.
“It didn’t seem like she was endangering the agents. It was an injustice,” Bogaert said.
Some New Yorkers spoke out against U.S. adventurism in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were snatched in a military operation. They are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
“What they did in Venezuela is illegal,” said Mattias Rich, a 32-year-old waiter from Brooklyn. “It was basically a kidnapping. I understand Venezuelans don’t like Maduro. But this is no way to handle it.”
A banner strung across the crowd read: “the fascist Trump regime must go”
“This is a symbol,” said Jessica Bloom, 68, a social worker from Manhattan. “We’re grieving the death of Renee Nicole Good. They were totally out of control. She was just scared.”
