By: Matt Troutman via Patch
NEW YORK CITY — Protesters drowned out and visibly flustered Mayor Eric Adams with chants of “shut down Rikers” during a news conference Thursday.
One protester was reportedly arrested as he tried to break through a perimeter set up around Adams’ event in Brooklyn.
The chaotic conference was streamed live online, giving New Yorkers a real-time opportunity to watch Adams attempt to plow through his prepared remarks announcing Downtown Brooklyn street projects over the chants of protesters.
When the chants stopped, Adams tried to brush off the awkwardness with humor.
“What happened to my chorus? Keep going,” he said. “That chorus gives me my energy.”
But despite Adams’ attempt to save face, it was clear the protests drowned out the event’s whole point — a $40 million investment in Fulton Street and Flatbush Avenue improvements in Downtown Brooklyn.
When Adams opened up the conference for on-topic questions, no reporters spoke up. He then suddenly closed the event.
“Can we swap it for on-topics?” one reporter could be heard shouting as the mayor walked away.
The protest came on the heels of Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor calling for the troubled Rikers jail complex to be stripped away from the control of Adams’ administration and instead be under oversight by a court-appointed outside authority.
Adams responded to the prosecutor by declaring, “I believe that I’m the best person to make the Rikers that we all desire.”
Evidently, at least the protesters Thursday didn’t agree.
