Mamdani pushes to disband NYPD protest unit, tax the richest New Yorkers

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New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared Wednesday that "we have to disband" the NYPD protest unit, whereas additionally issuing a name for greater taxes on town’s wealthiest.

The Democrat previously pledged on X in December 2024 to dismantle the New York Police Division’s Strategic Response Group (SRG).

"Sure, I proceed to imagine that we have to disband the SRG, and I am presently in conversations with the police commissioner in regards to the methods by which we will accomplish that that are operational, and I imagine that we should always accomplish that not on the idea of any fiscal want, however frankly, on the necessity to decouple the counterterrorism responsibilities inside the division from police response to First Modification train," Mamdani informed a reporter on Wednesday when requested in regards to the matter.

The NYPD stated on its web site that the SRG "responds to citywide mobilizations, civil issues, and main occasions with extremely educated personnel and specialised tools" and has "confirmed to be a important asset throughout occasions like parades, protests, and the papal go to."

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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks throughout a press convention on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in New York Metropolis. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

Mamdani additionally stated New York Metropolis is dealing with a " serious fiscal crisis ," with a "large fiscal deficit in our metropolis's price range to the tune of no less than $12 billion."

"Former Mayor Eric Adams handed the following administration a poisoned chalice. He systematically beneath budgeted companies that New Yorkers depend on each single day: rental help, shelter and particular training," Mamdani stated.

"Nevertheless, Eric Adams isn't the one purpose we're right here. For over a decade, as he ruled from Albany, former Governor Andrew Cuomo extracted our metropolis's sources utilizing our income to deal with state-level holes whereas withholding from town what it was owed," Mamdani continued. "The result's a shocking fiscal imbalance. New Yorkers contribute 54.5% of state income and obtain solely 40.5% again. No a part of this state offers extra and will get much less in return than New York Metropolis."

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Demonstrators protesting towards U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the federal courthouse attempt to block the trail of Homeland Safety autos from leaving the constructing and are stopped by the New York Metropolis Police Division on June 10, 2025, outdoors 26 Federal Plaza in New York Metropolis. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis by way of Getty Photographs)

"We are going to meet this disaster with the daring options it calls for. Which means recalibrating the damaged fiscal relationship between the state and town," Mamdani additionally stated. "And it implies that the time has come to tax the richest New Yorkers and most worthwhile firms."

"Now we have seen within the politics of the previous that in moments similar to these, we ask these with the least to bear the best burden. And we all know that right here within the wealthiest metropolis, within the wealthiest nation, within the historical past of the world, that we can't solely put our metropolis again on firmer monetary footing, but in addition construct a stronger metropolis for everybody if the highest 1% of New Yorkers pay an extra 2% in revenue taxes," he additionally stated.

Wealthy Azzopardi, a spokesperson for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and founding father of Bulldog Methods, informed Fox Information Digital in response that, "Zohran Mamdani must be taught that being an govt is greater than cosplaying in a customized designer made windbreaker, you want a fundamental command of the information: Below Governor Cuomo, state help to New York Metropolis colleges rose 68 %, and the state absorbed billions in New York Metropolis Medicaid price will increase."

Zohran Mamdani and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (Adam Grey/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs; Timothy A. Clary/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)

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"Andrew Cuomo inherited an $11 billion deficit when he first took workplace and managed to shut it by way of exhausting work and financial self-discipline — phrases that simply aren’t in Mamdani’s vocabulary," Azzopardi added. "He additionally hasn’t been governor for the final 5 years, the precise period of time that Mamdani — as a state legislator — was ready to right any perceived inequalities — besides he couldn’t even be bothered to point out up for work."