Council Member Susan Zhuang and a number of other southern Brooklyn residents were arrested early on Wednesday morning during an impromptu protest at the future site of a homeless shelter in Gravesend.
Around 150 people gathered to protest after crews began demolition work at 2501 86th St. at around 3 a.m., said Zhuang’s communications director Felix Tager. The council member was taken into custody between 5 and 6 a.m., Tager said. According to the NYPD, Zhuang was charged with assault in the second and third degrees, resisting arrest, and obstructing government administration.
Tager said Zhuang was attempting to protect an 80-year-old protestor who was shoved against a barricade when she was arrested. Police said the council member blocked officers from talking to another woman who was on the ground, shoved a metal barricade against them, and bit a high-ranking official when he tried to cuff her.
Video posted on X by local state Senate candidate Yiatin Chu shows police grappling with Zhuang and several other protesters over the metal barricade, at one point appearing to lift it up and push it against demonstrator while multiple officers attempt to place handcuffs on Zhuang. Tager said police pulled Zhuang’s hair and put her in a chokehold during the arrest, and that the council member was being held at the 62nd Precinct.
An NYPD representative confirmed that multiple people were arrested on the scene, but said the department has not yet confirmed exactly how many, or on what charges. By 12 p.m., the protest was ongoing – and appeared to have amassed a crowd of several hundred.
Locals – led by Zhuang and local Assembly Member William Colton – have been urging the city to scrap plans to open the 150-bed men’s shelter since late last year, claiming it is too close to schools, businesses and homes and would be bad for the neighborhood and for shelter residents.
City officials previously told Brooklyn Paper that they notified residents about the shelter last November, and that it would be the first shelter of its kind in the district. The shelter, set to open late this year, will offer support services to residents and round-the-clock security, according to the city’s Department of Social Services.
Protesters on the scene on Wednesday said crews did not have permits for construction at the site. Zhuang posted a video on X of a police officer talking with protesters at the scene at about 6 a.m., writing “There is no permits. Mayor office allowed construction at 5 am in our neighborhood.”
One resident, Brian Little, told Brooklyn Paper on Wednesday morning “over my dead body will they put a homeless shelter here, that will destroy our quality of life.”
City records, though, show that the city’s Department of Buildings issued a demolition permit in February, and approved the work in March. According to a DOB spokesperson, the department did issue a stop work order on the site in April after learning the developer had not properly notified one of six neighbors that the building would be demolished.
The stop work order was lifted in May, after the developer proved they had contacted the sixth neighbor.
There are no shelters of any kind in Brooklyn Community District 11, where the 86th Street shelter is planned, according to DSS. According to city statistics, nearly more than 86,000 people slept in city shelters on the night of July 15 — and more than 14,000 were single adult men. The city charter requires that services and facilities like shelters and libraries be equitably distributed across the city — but audits have showed some neighborhoods have a high concentration of shelters, while others — like CD11 — have very few or none.
This is a breaking news story, and will be updated with additional information. Last updated 7/17/24, 12:53 p.m.
Additional reporting by Lloyd Mitchell
