New York has lost none of its legendary exuberance: Police were put on “alert” ahead of former US President Donald Trump’s court appearance on Tuesday to face his criminal complaint about paying money to a porn star.
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The powerful and bloated NYPD City Police (36,000 officers and 19,000 civilians) on Friday ordered all of its agents and officers to take to public streets in uniform on Friday and for a week, according to police sources quoted by NBC television.
When asked by AFP, an NYPD spokesman replied in an email that “officials have been placed on alert and the service remains ready to respond if necessary and will provide everyone with an opportunity to peacefully exercise their rights.”
But “there are no credible threats to New York right now,” said this police spokesman for a city with a history of violent outbursts.
There are barely dozens of pro- or anti-Trump protesters in Manhattan.
A handful of enemies settled in front of Trump Tower on the mythical 5th Avenue and unfurled a banner that read “Stop Trump.”
“Lock him up, throw away the key”
While another person walked around with two signs: “Lock him up and… Throw away the key”.
A third man also recalled that “no one is above the law”.
A little later, in this busy neighborhood in the heart of Manhattan, a look-alike of former Republican President Neil Greenfield was enjoying the traffic and having his picture taken with a supporter or two of Donald Trump holding up a banner for the 2024 presidential election.
At a time shattered by his historic indictment announced Thursday night, the ex-president wants to “fight” fully to get Manhattan Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case dismissed, according to his attorney Joseph Tacopina.
Donald Trump, who lives in Florida, will appear in a Manhattan court on Tuesday to formally serve on him the charges against him related to the payment and later repayment of $130,000 to a porn film actress, Stormy Daniels, despite his silence.
On Tuesday, Trump supporters, including Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, planned to demonstrate outside the courthouse while he appeared.
A large police presence has already been deployed to prevent flooding.
“It is ridiculous”
Susan, who categorically refuses to give her name, says she is ashamed of the American justice system. Met in court, she says what Mr. Trump did was a “minor misdemeanor, not a felony.” It is ridiculous”.
Outside the courthouse, which was placed under maximum security by NYPD and Judicial Police agents for 10 days, Mary Fish, 50, laments the “path America has taken” which is “not a path that leads to peace or unity.” .
But this woman, who has not revealed her profession, accuses Donald Trump, who has disrupted the political system and power relations in the United States, of having “started dividing his country”.
And for Pilar Banos, a 72-year-old Spanish tourist visiting Manhattan, having a former US President prosecuted creates a “strange” atmosphere in the city.