Laurel Duggan, DCNF

Incoming New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned Black Lives Matter (BLM) leadership and other activists that he would not surrender the city to those who wish to burn it down in a Thursday speech.

Eric Adams talks tough-on-crime, warns BLM leader Hank Newsome not to mess with NYC https://t.co/Mo43Fnhf7f pic.twitter.com/QUverrPhIP

— New York Post (@nypost) December 9, 2021

“We’re not going to have a city where anarchists come from outside our city and go into a community such as Queens and destroy the community for their own selfish needs or desires,” Adams said, according to the New York Post.

Hawk Newsome, co-founder of BLM of Greater New York, threatened riots and bloodshed in response to Adams’ proposed anti-crime unit. “There’s no way we’re going to let some Gestapos come in here and harm our people. We pray for peace, but Black opportunities prepare for the worst,” Newsome said in November, according to Fox 5.

Adams, a retired New York Police Department (NYPD) captain, also applauded NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton’s “broken window” policy, crediting Bratton with driving down the city’s murder rate as well as petty crime during the speech, which took place at a Police Athletic League event, the NYP reported.

Adams won the mayoral race after campaigning on cracking down on crime. Crime in New York City rose significantly from 2019 to 2020 and again from 2020 to 2021. One quarter of New Yorkers, including 24% of Democrats, said crime should be the top focus of legislators in a recent survey.

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