Lawsuit Seeks Eviction In Apartment Showing Confederate Flags In Windows
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)-- The controversy about a pair of Confederate flags put up in an East Village apartment's windows has escalated to thrown rocks and a move to evict the tenant.
According to a lawsuit filed against tenant William Green on behalf of building manager Yassky Properties, Inc., the flags have posed an "egregious private anti-social nuisance" which are ground for terminiating the lease on the rent-stabilized unit.
Neighbors said two Confederate flags were displayed next to Israeli and American flags in the sixth floor windows of 403 East 8th Street for more than a year, but many became angered by the sight following a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville.
"The Building and its residents have expressed constant fear of physical attack and for their physical safety and well-being," the lawsuit states. "Incidents of rock throwing, window breaking in the dead of night, riot and other violence have been spawned by this conduct."
"I moved away from Nebraska to get away from that stuff, I hate it," an East Village resident named Darren last week told 1010 WINS. "I hate that it's happening in New York. This is not a place to raise your racist flag... I don't want it on my block."
Last week two NYPD patrol cars were stationed on the corner of East 8th Street and Avenue D to protect the building and watch out for further incidents at the scene.
On Aug. 12, a car rammed into a crowd of demonstrators protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. One person was killed, 19 others were injured.
The violence prompted Mayor Bill DeBlasio to call for a 90-day review of "all symbols of hate" on New York City property, including the removal of a granite marker honoring Henri Philippe Pétain on the Canyon of Heroes on Morris and Broadway in Manhattan. Pétain was convicted of treason in connection to helping the Nazis lead thousands of the Jewish faith to their deaths.