Mamdani Required City Hall Approval for NYPD Protest Arrests as SRG Still Detained U.N. Demonstrators
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Sep 29
Mamdani Required City Hall Approval for NYPD Protest Arrests as SRG Still Detained U.N. Demonstrators
1 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Sep 29
Summary
City Hall quietly required the NYPD to get mayoral approval before deploying the Strategic Response Group to arrest protesters, a previously unreported policy put in place early in Zohran Mamdani’s term.
The disclosure sharpened questions about why Mamdani did not block the SRG’s use last week outside the U.N., where the unit arrested anti-Netanyahu demonstrators, including several of the mayor’s political allies.
Mamdani said Monday he saw no justification for that deployment and reiterated his promise to disband the SRG, but his office would not say whether he has ever rejected an NYPD request.
The gap between Mamdani’s authority and his inaction drew criticism from Legal Aid and underscores friction with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who has defended the unit as a key policing tool.
Nine months into his term, the episode risks deepening frustration on the left over Mamdani’s unfulfilled 2025 pledge to dismantle a unit created in 2015 and constrained by a 2023 court settlement.