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.
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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.
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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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