The Legal Aid Society has denounced NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s support for the NYPD’s heavy-handed tactics against citizens protesting George Floyd’s murder. Viral video has surfaced showing officers using physical violence against peaceful protesters, according to the New York Daily News.

Elected officials – including the Mayor’s own staff – also heavily criticized the practice, which they fear is being used to stymie criticism of police, rather than prevent looting and rioting that has plagued the city.

“Under the guise of protecting store owners from looters … de Blasio has criminalized the constitutional right to express outrage over the murder of George Floyd and systemic racist policing,” reads a statement from The Legal Aid Society. “This curfew is clearly about a desire to clamp down on the protests — not the looting — and Mayor de Blasio is disingenuous to suggest otherwise.”