Hundreds Take Over BK Streets Protesting NYPD, Subway Crackdown

BROOKLYN, NY — Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Brooklyn on Friday calling for an end to police brutality and an upcoming NYPD crackdown on fare evasion in the city's subways.

The protest, organized by Decolonize This Place, brought marchers with "F--- The Police" and "Black Lives Matter" signs to major streets around the Barclays Center and eventually into the borough's subway stations, where they led mass jumps over turnstiles, videos show.

The rally came nearly a week after videos of two violent arrests in Brooklyn subway stations went viral, including one where nearly a dozen officers throw a 19-year-old to the ground for allegedly jumping a turnstile at the Barclays Center station.

Protesters called for an end to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to bring 500 state police to the city's subway system to crack down on "quality of life crimes" like fare evasion, calling it a way to target low-income New Yorkers and people of color.

"Friday was a show of people power," Decolonize This Place said in the days after the protest. "It was a warning to Cuomo and De Blasio. F--- your fare evasion: We know it's class warfare."

At least two people were arrested during the protest, one for writing the word "Pigs" on a police patrol car and another who was given a summons for spitting on an officer, according to the New York Daily News.

The protest wasn't the first call to action since the violent arrest videos went viral online.

Last week, elected officials, advocates and those involved in the arrests held rallies outside of City Hall and Brooklyn Borough Hall.

At the City Hall protest, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Brooklyn City Council members Brad Lander and Antonio Reynoso and hoards of activists rallied for Adrien Napier, the 19-year-old who was arrested.

Brooklyn Borough Hall's rally called for an investigation into the second video, which showed officers punching and pinning down teenagers while trying to break up a fight at Jay Street/MetroTech station.

That arrest has led to at least one lawsuit, a $5 million complaint from Benjamin Marshall, the 15-year-old who was punched in the face.

Another teen involved has also retained lawyers from Brooklyn Defender Services, who said last week that one of the officers involved was also one of the cops who ripped Jazmine Headley's baby from her arms in another viral arrest last year.