Govind Tekale
Activists rallied outside the office of New York City Council Member Oswald Feliz, calling for action on a proposal they described as the CURB Act, which they say would disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group.
Video from the gathering showed barricades and a substantial police presence outside the office. Speakers said they wanted the council member to support a hearing on the proposal and questioned how the NYPD responds to demonstrations and reports of violence around them.
The Strategic Response Group is an NYPD unit that has drawn sustained criticism from civil-liberties and protest-rights advocates over its role at demonstrations. Supporters of abolishing the unit argue that its deployment has contributed to confrontations between police and protesters. The rally added to that campaign by urging city lawmakers to consider the proposed legislation.
Claims made at the rally
Organisers alleged that people attending the protest were shoved or harassed by counterprotesters and that officers did not intervene. They also criticised the NYPD’s response to a separate incident near a hospital in Marble Hill involving federal immigration enforcement.
Those accounts were statements by rally participants. The video reviewed for this report does not independently establish the full circumstances of either allegation, the actions of every person present or the decisions made by officers. Karmactive has not independently verified the claims about the Marble Hill incident.
The gathering was focused on an immediate policy demand: a public hearing on the CURB Act proposal and an end to the Strategic Response Group. Speakers framed the issue as one of protest rights and police accountability, arguing that New Yorkers should be able to demonstrate without excessive force or intimidation.
What is the NYPD Strategic Response Group? It is a specialised NYPD unit that has been deployed at protests and major public events. Critics say the unit’s protest-policing role should end; the proposal raised at the rally would disband it.
The video documents a live protest and the political demands made there. Whether the proposal advances will depend on action by the City Council and on the public record developed through any hearing or official response.
