Live Protest Updates: Protest Groups To Converge In Central Park For Juneteenth After Taking Roadway Of Brooklyn Bridge

Here's the latest:

• Chants Of 'Take This F---ing Statue Down' In Columbus Circle
• Various Protest Groups Coming Together For UNITE NY 2020 Rally In Central Park
• Protesters Take The Roadway Of Brooklyn Bridge During Juneteenth March
• Thousands Take To The Streets For Tons Of Peaceful Juneteenth Protests & Marches
• Five More "Black Lives Matter" Murals To Be Painted On Streets Around The City
• NYC Juneteenth Celebrations Kick Off At Brooklyn Public Library
• Here's A Running List Of Juneteenth Events
• This Year's Juneteenth Celebration "Is Grabbing The National Imagination"

9:44 p.m. Thousands gathered on the Great Lawn, where volunteers served free meals including rice, jerk chicken, vegan crawfish from Black-owned businesses across the city. The history of Seneca Village was recounted as well.

In Brooklyn, a group marched from the Barclays Center, and then a few hundred headed to Fort Greene Park:

An impromptu dance party emerged on a street:

Chants Of 'Take This F---ing Statue Down' In Columbus Circle

8:05 p.m. A group of about 200 people split from the group marching towards Central Park and headed to Columbus Circle, where barricades and police officers in riot gear are stationed around the statue of Christopher Columbus.

Marchers decried systemic racism and police brutality, and a person led a chant of "take fucking statue down" through a PA system.

Tensions diffused, with most of the group continuing on to Central Park. However, a few dozen stayed near the statue, where Strategic Response Group officers also appeared.

Various Protest Groups Coming Together For UNITE NY 2020 Rally In Central Park

6:15 p.m. Since the Black Lives Matter protests kicked off over three weeks ago, it has been dominated by lots of disparate groups leading marches at different parts of the city, often simultaneously. However, many of these groups are now attempting to come together under one banner: UNITE NY 2020.

The list of groups who are participating include: Warriors of the Garden, McCarren Vigil/March, Street Riders NYC, NYC Marchers/Barclay Center Group, Black Lives Matter NY, Brooklyn Protests, Black Tie Walk, Synergy Today Foundation, Brooklyn Drum Collective, and People Over Power, among others. The groups met up at Cadman Plaza earlier today, and are slated to converge this evening in Central Park for a mass rally, which makes this the first major effort to sync BLM marches together in NYC. 

The organizers include Liz (Elizabeth) Vargas, Alaina Zúñiga and Clive Destiny, who have all attended, and sometimes have helped lead, several marches over the last month. Destiny briefly spoke to WNYC/Gothamist reporter Gwynne Hogan in the video below.

In a mission statement sent to journalists, the organizers write, "We’ve noticed that as a city, we’ve had monumental protests in solidarity, but not in unity. We’ve allowed ourselves to be divided by boroughs. We believe that in order to continue the momentum of this movement, it is absolutely imperative that we unify the ENTIRE CITY....This movement is not about an individual group or person, but instead about all of us working together for a common cause. We can make history. We just have to do it together."

Protesters Take The Roadway Of Brooklyn Bridge During Juneteenth March

4:45 p.m. Thousands of marchers who started in Crown Heights, headed to Grand Army Plaza, and went through Park Slope to Cadman Plaza ended up taking the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge this afternoon. You can see some videos of the throngs of people, along with a band playing music, below.

Along the way of that march, protesters reflected on the significance of Juneteenth and the success of the recent BLM protests.

“I never took the day off, today is the first day I’m taking the day off,” said Nigel Nathaniel, a 54-year-old community organizer. “I think the inclusiveness is important, that you have people of all races participating because change is about to happen and we need people from all different races, different cultures to participate in this change.”

Lorraine Joseph, 37, administrator for a city agency from Brooklyn, said she was also celebrating Juneteenth for the first time. “I took off of work and everything,” she said. “It feels liberating in a sense, it’s owning some more of me, there’s a lot to us that we don’t have and we can’t claim, I feel like claiming it before anybody gives it to me is definitely liberating.”

“Juneteenth was the first step towards freedom, but immediately after that Jim Crow was passed, it was like two steps forward one step back, for a long time in history," said Cabril Deabreu, a 30-year-old business intelligence analyst. "I feel like something with this historical significance, it keeps with the idea that while things are better, they could still be better than they are today, and just because this is a day that freedom was really achieved throughout the United States there’s still so much more work to be done, so much more progress to be gained. So I feel like this is a great time, it brings a lot of attention to that day, and it also renews some of that historical context.”

Thousands Take To The Streets For Tons Of Peaceful Juneteenth Protests & Marches

3:45 p.m. Thousands of people are out protesting and marching on the streets all across the city in honor of Juneteenth. You can see some videos from multiple marches happening in Harlem, at City Hall, near SoHo and at the Brooklyn Museum below.

Around 11 a.m., a group of people set off south from 125th Street in Harlem for a Silent March, in which a respectful silence was held as the names of those lost to police violence were read over a microphone. As the group of hundreds got closer and closer to Central Park, the energy levels began rising and people began chanting and singing.

That march ultimately landed at Seneca Village Site in the park, which is a historically significant location: it was an 1825 settlement of Black landowners in Manhattan. The land was taken by eminent domain in 1857 and the homes torn down, leaving hundreds homeless, so that Central Park could be built.

Another rally is taking place at PS 163, located at West 97th Street and Amsterdam Avenue—children created signs on the sidewalk to support marchers, as you can see in the photos below.

And several marches roamed lower Manhattan, with several groups merging together at City Hall in front of the African Burial Ground National Monument. It is estimated there were several thousand people there in the early afternoon.

Five More "Black Lives Matter" Murals To Be Painted On Streets Around The City

2:15 p.m. In addition to announcing that Juneteenth will become an official city holiday and an official city school's holiday starting next year, Mayor Bill de Blasio also announced that more Black Lives Matter street murals will be painted around the city over the next three weeks. Last weekend, community leaders and volunteers painted a BLM mural on a 375-foot-long stretch of Fulton Street in Bed-Stuy.

And the painting has already begun:

"I ask all New Yorkers to recognize the power of this moment, that the city of New York is saying loudly, clearly, consistency Black lives matter, and we will back up that belief with action after action after action, bring it to life in more and more ways in this city," the mayor said at a press conference this morning.

The street murals will be at the following locations, to be completed in the next few weeks: 153rd Street between Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue in Queens; Morris Avenue between 161st Street and 162nd Street in The Bronx; Joralemon Street between Adams Street and Court Street in Brooklyn; Centre Street between Worth Street and Reade Street in Manhattan; and Richmond Terrace between Hamilton Avenue and Ferry Terminal Viaduct on Staten Island.

It was also announced today that another BLM mural will be going up in Harlem soon. This one will stretch across Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, between 125th and 127th streets, and will feature work of Harlem artists and community organizations. The artists will begin work on the mural on Wednesday, July 1st, and the final work will be unveiled on Saturday, July 4th.

NYC Juneteenth Celebrations Kick Off At Brooklyn Public Library

12:20 p.m. There are many Juneteenth events scheduled for today all across the city—scroll down below for a full list of all of them—and things kicked off this morning outside of the Brooklyn Public Library with a "Cel-Liberation Rally" featuring various speakers and musical performances.

"I tell my peers to come out and protest with me, other 19-year-olds, and a lot of them don't show up," a teen organizer said during the event. "I wish they understood that the system fears us; the system fears the power of the youth. Because we have the power. That's what I want everyone here to understand today. We are the future leaders, we are the future politicians, we are the future presidents. We are the next Martin Luther King's, the next Malcolm X's. We are the next Huey P. Newton's."

Here's a running list of Juneteenth events:

BROOKLYN:

10 a.m.: 10 Grand Army Plaza

10:30 a.m.: 5K at Machate Circle

12 p.m.: Vigil and march at Brooklyn Museum

12 p.m.: Brooklyn Bridge

12 p.m.: Barclays Center

12 p.m.: Drive at Grand Army Plaza arch

1 p.m.: DeKalb Avenue and South Oxford Street

1 p.m.: Kaiser Park

1 p.m.: Prospect Park and Lincoln Road

1 p.m.: New Lots 3 Train station

1 p.m.: Bike ride at Brooklyn Museum

2 p.m.: Barclays Center

2 p.m.: Grand Army Plaza

2 p.m.: McCarren Park

2 p.m.: Nostrand Avenue and Farragut Road

2 p.m.: Rally and barbecue at 155th Bay Street

2 p.m.: Cadman Plaza

2:30 p.m.: Flatbush Avenue and Empire Boulevard

3:00 p.m.: Grand Army Plaza

3:00 p.m.: 300 Ashland Place

3:30 p.m.: Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue

4 p.m.: Fort Greene Park

4 p.m.: Grand Army Plaza

4 p.m.: Myrtle Avenue and Broadway

4 p.m.: Drum Circle at Grand Army Plaza Oval

4 p.m.: Tillary Street and Boerum Place

4 p.m.: Irving Square Park

4:30 p.m.: Walk at 369 New Lots Avenue

4:30 p.m.: Fort Greene Park

4:30 p.m.: Herbert von King Park

5 p.m.: Multiple Locations through East New York: Broadway Junction, Franklin K Lane High School, Starrett City Shopping Center, Gateway Mall, Linden Movie Theater, New Lots Plaza, Genesis Houses

5 p.m.: Malcolm X Boulevard and Macon Street

5:15 p.m.: Candlelight vigil at SUNY Downstate Medical Center (450 Clarkson Avenue Entrance)

6 p.m.: Barclays Center

6 p.m.: Grand Army Plaza

6 p.m.: Brooklyn Bridge Park

6:15 p.m.: 5K run and bike at 1368 Fulton Avenue

6:30 p.m.: Prospect Park

7 p.m.: St. Johns Place and Franklin Avenue

7 p.m.: Jon Batiste to perform on Brooklyn Public Library steps in Juneteenth celebration

7 p.m.: McCarren Park

7:45 p.m.: Prospect Park

8 p.m.: Bike at Brooklyn Museum

MANHATTAN:

10 a.m.: Washington Square Park

10 a.m.: 60 West 129th Street

10 a.m.: Tweed Courthouse

11 a.m.: Silent March at 125th Street

12 p.m.: March at Seneca Village Site in Central Park

12 p.m.: Riverbank State Park in Harlem

12 p.m.: Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building at 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard

12 p.m.: Harriet Tubman Memorial (St. Nicholas Avenue and Fredrick Douglas Boulevard)

1 p.m.: 142nd Street and Broadway

1 p.m.: Central Park North and 110th Street

1 p.m.: Alamo Cube Cooper Square

1 p.m.: Central Park North and 110th Street

1 p.m.: Columbus Circle

1 p.m.: St. Nicholas Park

1:11 p.m.: 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard

1:30 p.m.: Rally at PS 163 (West 57th Street and Amsterdam Avenue)

2 p.m.: City Hall

2 p.m.: North Meadow in Central Park

2 p.m.: Marcus Garvey Park

2 p.m.: Bike at 2268 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard

2 p.m.: Seneca Village

3 p.m.: 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard

3:30 p.m.: Washington Square Park

4 p.m.: Children's Book Reading at Riverside Park and 85th Street

4 p.m.: West Harlem Piers

6 p.m.: Storytime at Carl Schurz Park

6:30 p.m.: Marcus Garvey Park Amphitheatre

7 p.m.: Washington Square Park

7:30 p.m.: 5K run at Mitchel Square Park

QUEENS:

7:30 a.m.: Far Rockaway Beach at Beach 105th Street

11 a.m.: 80th Street and 37th Avenue

12 p.m.: 109-50 Merrick Boulevard

12:30 p.m.: Ascan Avenue and Austin Street

1 p.m.: 83rd Street and Roosevelt

1 p.m.: 89-17 Sutphin Boulevard

2 p.m.: Jamaica Multiplex

3 p.m.: 115th Avenue and 221st Street

4 p.m.: Flushing Meadows Park

6:30 p.m.: Poster making at MOMA PS1

8:30 p.m.: St. Michael's Park

THE BRONX:

12 p.m.: 4101 White Plains Road

3 p.m.: Soundview Park

5 p.m.: Bike ride at Middletown Road and Stadium Avenue

STATEN ISLAND:

12 p.m.: 230 Broad Street at Gerard Carter Center

2 p.m.: Youth Picnic at Clove Lakes Park

2 p.m.: Victory Boulevard and Bay Street

VIRTUAL:

11 a.m.: Juneteenth Virtual Rally (Registration)

1 p.m.-5 p.m.: Instagram Live with @letstalknydpdorum

1 p.m.: Living History @ Home: Celebrate Juneteenth with Dimenna Children’s History Museum (Registration)

Event information via @justiceforgeorgenyc