Two pro-police rallies in South Brooklyn turned violent over the weekend when they faced off with anti -police demonstrators.

The two sides threw punches at each other at a rally in Bay Ridge Sunday night as demonstrators from both sides marched to the 68th Precinct stationhouse.

What You Need To Know

  • Police arrested five people after two clashes in South Brooklyn over the weekend.

  • Anti-police protesters called supporters of the police racist.

  • Police supporters said most New Yorkers don’t want the NYPD defunded or abolished.

 

Police tased one of the anti-police demonstrators. Earlier, the man was seen throwing what appeared to be a helmet in the crowd.

The two sides also engaged in shouting and shoving at Saturday’s rally in Dyker Heights.

"As soon as we touched down on Saturday, before we even said one chant, we were swarmed by the pro cop protestors, “ said Noah Weston of the Bay Ridge Coalition.

Weston and Genna Goldsobel helped organize the anti-police counterprotests because they say anyone who supports police is a racist or even a white supremacist.

"They are not there to serve and protect us. They are there to protect property and corporations and white people," said Goldsobel.

They say the pro-police demonstrators provoked the violence by attacking them physically and verbally.

"I was told, and many other women were told, to go get raped, which is absolutely horrendous," said Goldsobel.

But some of the anti-police demonstrators burned the American flag and threw eggs at police.

Weston did not condemn their actions.

"The people who are so bent out of shape about eggs don’t get bent out of shape when someone has a knee put on their neck and they die," said Weston.

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who is also running for Congress, attended Saturday’s pro-police rally in Dyker Heights.

"This community, a majority, I believe, do not support defunding the police. They want to see their families are kept safe. They don’t want to see the tools and the resources stripped from our police officers that make that difficult," said Malliotakis.

Malliotakis condemned the violence that happened at the rallies and denounced those who call supporters of police racist.

"You had individuals there to show support for police. The majority were Muslim and Arab. To call them white supremacists is completely outrageous," said Malliotakis.

Police arrested five people at the rallies.

The anti-police demonstrators say they will continue to counterprotest pro-police rallies until the NYPD is abolished.