The NYPD must now officially report to the City Council about how it prevents protesters from harassing people around K-12 schools — but not colleges, where most hateful anti-Israel rallies occur.
The council passed legislation Tuesday night requiring the report in response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani vetoing a bill in April that aimed to create buffer zones around educational institutions including colleges.
Mamdani said that bill would have restricted free-speech rights.
Proponents of the new law, which was passed with a veto-proof majority, hailed it as still an important step in protecting people.
But some critics said that while a move in the right direction, it doesn’t go far enough.
“There hasn’t been many protests near K-to-12 schools,” a council source said.
Still, it’s “good to send a message” to prevent protesters from intimidating students and staffers, the source added.
The City Council’s revised measure, sponsored by Democratic Councilwoman Elsie Encarnación of East Harlem, also applies to childcare centers but not to libraries or teaching hospitals.
The new law requires Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to submit a “transparency report” to the mayor and Council Speaker Julie Menin detailing the NYPD’s policies involving the “security perimeters” it sets up around the specified educational facilities.
The report will include when the NYPD decides to use a security buffer zone and how it ensures such a perimeter “neither curtails the rights to free speech, assembly, or protest, including student walkouts, nor impedes emergency access to, or egress from” the facility.
“This legislation ensures children and families can safely access schools without fear or intimidation while protecting constitutional rights, which are sacrosanct,” Menin said.
Councilman Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx), a co-sponsor of the bill, said, “Every child in this city deserves to walk into school without fear of being harassed or intimidated.
“Whether you’re in 2K or high school, you should be able to get into and out of your school without being grabbed or having epithets hurled at you, and this bill makes sure there’s a clear, public plan to keep students safe while fully protecting every New Yorker’s right to protest,” he said.
Jewish Community Relations Council of New York CEO Mark Treyger called the bill a “major victory,” as did the UJA-Federation of New York.
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“Our tradition teaches that the measure of a society is how it protects its children. This legislation answers that call,” Treyger said.
“The urgency could not be clearer. One of these early childhood programs operates in a Queens synagogue in Rego Park that was targeted in a chilling antisemitic hate crime, with swastikas scrawled across the property. Moments like these remind us that safety cannot begin after a crisis,’’ he said.
“It must be built before one.”
But the council source said the bill is “symbolic” because it excludes colleges and universities where the most violent lawless protests have occurred, such as Columbia University and CUNY’s City College.
The council also passed another law allowing the the NYPD to set up buffer zones around synagogues and other houses of worship.
In addition, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature approved a law establishing a 50-foot buffer zone around houses of worship, including synagogues, churches, mosques or other religious centers to prevent harassment of congregants during protests.
The new state law creates a new penalty for “criminal interference with access to a place of religious worship” — a class B misdemeanor carrying a sentence of up to 90 days in jail and a maximum $500 fine.
“Everywhere from universities to museums to teaching hospitals could face restrictions,” Mamdani said in a statement at the time.
“This could impact workers protesting ICE, or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights.”
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