The Legal Aid Society and other defender organizations have sent a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea condemning the city’s “Large Scale Arrest Processing Procedure” and the failure of the NYPD to ensure the right of protesters arrested during this week’s George Floyd protests to timely legal representation.

The NYPD have hauled in more than 2,000 people in relation to the protests – a number so large that it has effectively deprived arrested New Yorkers of their normal rights, including the right to a phone call, leaving the families and lawyers of the detained unable to communicate with those in custody, according to THE CITY.

“If you have the right to a lawyer and the lawyer can’t get through to the number, your right to a lawyer clearly isn’t being respected,” said attorney Andrea Ritchie, who was working the Good Call hotline Saturday night.

In the letter, lawyers demand that the NYPD provide a realistic way for tracking and contacting detainees, to ensure that the proper due process rights are safeguarded.

“These barriers to meaningful and reliable communication violate due process and our clients’ right to counsel,” wrote Gideon Oliver of National Lawyers Guild.