Police increasingly concerned about Israel-Hamas war demonstrations in New York City, NYPD sources say
NEW YORK -- NYPD sources tell CBS New York police are becoming increasingly concerned with the hostility and the number of rallies in the city as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
Police sources say every precinct now has one supervisor and eight uniformed cops on standby, ready to respond whenever there are large planned or pop-up demonstrations.
Those demonstrations are becoming a near-daily occurrence in the city, often drawing thousands of people.
The NYPD says they want to ensure people can peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights, but in a statement Friday, the department says they won't tolerate violence or property damage.
Thursday night, demonstrators spray-painted the New York Times building and threw newspapers in the lobby.
NYPD sources say two police cars were also vandalized and so far, no one has been arrested for that vandalism.
One reason police are concerned is because bias crimes have been on the rise.
The NYPD says there were 101 bias incidents in October; that's a 124% increase from October of last year, led by a spike in anti-Jewish incidents.
CAIR, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights organization, says they also saw a large spike over the past month nationwide in requests for help and reports of bias.
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NYPD sources say violence and vandalism has been rare at rallies but do say police are concerned about the overall hostility stemming from the war and how the rallies are stretching NYPD resources.
A department spokesperson says the NYPD is ready and able to respond to the demonstrations.