On the march

Thank you to East Village-based photographer Gudrun Georges for sharing these images from before, during and after some of the peaceful protests this past week...

Performance Space New York is now a rest stop for protestors; donations needed

Performance Space New York on First Avenue at Ninth Street is now offering protestors water and other supplies as well as use of their restrooms ...



And they are the latest East Village theater space to do this as part of the Open Your Lobby campaign... we mentioned yesterday that both the Public Theater and the New York Theatre Workshop are providing similar services in the afternoon and early evening hours.

Remembering their names

In recent days, someone has added stickers on the sidewalk bridge outside Village View along First Avenue... paying tribute to the unarmed black men and women who died at the hands of police across the country in recent years.

EVG reader Elissa, who shared these photos, estimates that there are nearly 200 stickers (some of the names repeat) on this stretch between Second Street and Sixth Street...

At the Public Theater

As mentioned this morning, the Public Theater on Lafayette is one of the venues offering water and restrooms to protestors as part of the Open Your Lobby campaign... they'll be open daily from 2-6 p.m for people taking part in marches.

Outside, they're featuring the work of D.C.-based creator B. Peppers...

On 4th Street, the New York Theatre Workshop opens its door to protestors

The New York Theatre Workshop on Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery recently opened its doors for protestors during non-curfew hours.

The theater, currently closed during the COVID-19 crisis, is letting protestors inside to use its restrooms and supplying them with free water and snacks as well as providing them with an opportunity to recharge their phones.

As Deadline reported, this move inspired the Open Your Lobby campaign, which is calling on shutdown theaters "to repurpose their spaces in support of protesters nationwide fighting racism and injustice."

In support of #BlackLivesMattter and the many protesters nationwide fighting racism and injustice RIGHT NOW, we challenge theaters to #OpenYourLobby. pic.twitter.com/kmEU5oZzo9

— Open Your Lobby (@openyourlobby) June 3, 2020

Nearly 10 other Off-Broadway theaters have joined in, including the Public Theater on Lafayette. (Find an updated spreadsheet of open venues here.)

NYC, we hear you. If you are heading out to protest today, our restrooms are open from 2pm to 6pm today, June 3. We will have staff volunteers on hand to help facilitate social distancing.

— The Public Theater (@PublicTheaterNY) June 3, 2020

Earlier in the week, the New York Theatre Workshop shared this message of solidarity with the community...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by New York Theatre Workshop (@nytw79) on May 30, 2020 at 7:30pm PDT

Say their names

On the LinkNYC kiosk on Sixth Street and First Avenue this evening... photos by Goggla...

A sign outside Verizon: 'Agitators are not protestors'

A handmade sign arrived some time this morning after 8 outside the damaged Verizon store on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...



It reads:

Please know:

1) BLM
2) The protest came here twice peacefully. Hours later a small group of people trashed 2nd & St. Mark's. Agitators are not protestors."

Thanks to Steven for the photos...

Caravan protest on Avenue C addresses racial bias and police violence in social-distancing arrests

[Photos by Louise & Danny]

Dozens of protestors, accompanied by community leaders, gathered outside Police Service Area 4 (PS4) on Avenue C and Eighth Street last evening to speak out against racial bias and aggressive enforcement of social-distancing arrests.



PS4 serves 25 New York City Housing Authority developments for four NYPD Precincts. It's also the station house for officer Francisco Garcia, who was stripped of his gun and put on modified duty following an ugly confrontation last Saturday on Avenue D and Ninth Street.

The incident, caught on video, shows Garcia punching and tackling Donni Wright, a local resident and NYCHA groundskeeper, while shouting the n-word, brandishing a taser and subsequently kneeling on Wright's head.

The Rev. Kevin McCall of the Crisis Action Center was said to organize last night's caravan protest, which included three stops at precincts in Brooklyn. This came on the heels of a New York Times report that revealed that 35 of 40 people arrested by the NYPD for not socially distancing in Brooklyn were black.

"[T]hey were beating us up before social distancing," local activist Shaheeda Smith told PIX11 last night. "Right here on the Lower East Side, they're doing this to Donni Wright. But on the East River, there are people running with no mask on. Not bothering with social distancing. Right at Tompkins Square Park, people are sitting down with wine in their hands, and we're getting thrown down to the floor."

Jill Woodward shared this footage from Eighth and C...