Downtown photographer Milo Hess paid a visit to Occupy City Hall on Friday, where hundreds of protesters were camped out peacefully.
The encampment has been ongoing since Tues., June 23.
The protesters are demanding that $1 billion be slashed from the New York Police Department’s budget of $6 billion — or a cut of nearly 17 percent to the nation’s largest police force.
They want the defunded police money to be switched instead to youth services in communities of color.
The Occupiers claim their area is a police-free zone and that officers have been respecting that.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, for one, backs a $1 billion cut to the police budget.
Mayor de Blasio supports reducing the N.Y.P.D.’s budget, though by less than that amount. He has declined to offer a specific figure.
The city’s budget deadline is Tues., June 30.
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