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The question of when and whether to make arrests amid protests is a tricky problem for the mayor, and one his police commissioner says he has the answer to. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report.

Protests have been pouring onto the streets this week, thousands protesting the grand jury decision in the case of Eric Garner, bringing traffic to a halt.

More than 300 people were arrested in the protests' first two days.

Gross: Wondering how long you think this can go on for. Police Commissioner William Bratton: It will go on for as long as it goes on.

"We're all moving around today," Bratton added. "There is no burned-out buildings. There are no people in the hospital. So it is what it is."

What it is, at least for City Hall, is trying to balance the New York City Police Department's priorities with that of the First Amendment rights of the protesters.

"These things tend to peter out on their own," Bratton said. "People get tired of marching around aimlessly."

On Friday, Bratton promised that the NYPD would not make mass arrests like those conducted during the Republican National Convention in 2004.

"We will make arrests where appropriate, but mass arrests are not the answer to anything," he said.

So far, the answer for the mayor has been to straddle both sides, voicing support for the protesters' right to march but also the police department's role in protecting the public.

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After 219 Protest Arrests, Mayor Avoids Issue at City Hall Progressives Event

Progressives For Progress For Change
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In this piece, ENIOLA AKINKUOTU X-rays the division within the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress as the party picks its governorship candidate today

Nigerias commercial nerve centre, Lagos State, has only been ruled by one party since the return to democratic rule in 1999. The party, which has metamorphosed into what is now known as the All Progressives Congress may, however, lose its grip on the state over an internal crisis brewing ahead of the governorship primary which is set to hold today.

The leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was governor from 1999 to 2007, has been described as an astute politician largely responsible for the success the party has been experiencing at the polls.

However, the influence Tinubu wields as regards who becomes the next governor of the state seems to have caused a storm within the party which aspirants say if is not resolved properly could cause an implosion.

Twelve aspirants have been given the go-ahead to participate in todays primary. They are: a former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan; a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Olasupo Shasore; the current Commissioner for Works, Obafemi Hamzat, and a former Accountant General of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode.

Others are the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; the Senator representing Lagos-West senatorial district, Ganiyu Solomon; a former aide to Tinubu, Mr. Tayo Ayinde, Mr. Adekunle Disu, Mr. Wahab Tokunbo, Mr. Olanrewaju Ope and a former Commissioner for Rural Affairs, Mr. Tola Kasali.

Among all the aspirants, however, Ambode has been continually rumoured to be the choice of Tinubu.

Ambode, a retired civil servant, became a news item in April 2014 when several groups addressed press conferences about the plan by Tinubu to impose him on the party, an allegation which Tinubu denied

In May 2014, the suspicion was rekindled when he was openly endorsed by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, who stated unequivocally at a book launch that the elders and chiefs in the state had consulted and decided that Ambode would be the next governor.

Akiolu, who did not deny any plans of an imposition, said Tinubu was skilful in picking good successors having picked the incumbent, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, in 2007. He said Fashola had even performed better than Tinubu and urged the people of the state to have faith in Tinubu once more to pick a credible candidate.

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Primary: Fashola dares Tinubu over successor

For several decades, a capital city in the state to Arkansas's southwest stood out as a progressive island in an otherwise ruby red state. Although now joined by other urban areas like Dallas and Houston that show weaker strains of progressivism, Austin remains an outlier in a state that is several election cycles from being competitive in statewide elections. This progressive bent is expressed not just in its voting patterns but in the public policies pursued by Austin's city government, creating a magnet for in-migrants from around the country despite Texas state policies on criminal justice, education and women's issues emphatically opposed by most Austinites.

The 2014 election cycle has left progressives in Arkansas never in the majority but consistently holding a place at the table in the state's policymaking scrambling to determine what comes next in Arkansas. While engagement on state issues where there is the possibility for strong coalition with business conservatives (e.g. the private option and prison reform) is crucial, there is no immediate path toward progressive rehabilitation in a decidedly Republican state. But there is a clear, obtainable answer for those progressives who happen to live in the state's capital city: Make Little Rock the "Austin" of Arkansas through creating a thoroughly progressive city government.

It is clear that the numbers are there for Little Rock's electorate to do just that. While U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor fell short of 40 percent statewide in his race for re-election, he gained just under 65 percent of the votes cast in those precincts entirely or partly in the city of Little Rock. This represents a 25 percent gap in the Democratic vote in Little Rock compared to the state as a whole in an election cycle where some of the city's most reliably Democratic precincts showed distinctly low turnout. Moreover, the fact that a number of longtime city directors may choose to make this their last term creates an opening for quick change in the composition of the city's governing body. (In 2016, all three at-large city directors' seats are up and the mayor and all but one ward director follow in 2018.)

*So, what might the agenda of a progressive Little Rock city government look like?

*Passage of policies like expansive antidiscrimination ordinances that send the signal that the city is open to the "creative class";

*Expansion of community policing to both build trust between the police and those in neighborhoods south of Interstate 630 and to aid in dropping a murder rate disproportionately impacting those neighborhoods;

*On the health front, improvement in access to community-based primary care, behavioral health services (mental illness and substance abuse), and urgent health care within neighborhoods across the city;

*Assertive implementation of planning policies that ensure development patterns mixing residential density, viable local businesses and recreational opportunities;

*Promotion of walkable, connected neighborhoods through sidewalk redevelopment and the expansion of a system of bike lanes and paths;

*Creation of incentives for local businesses to reinvest in Little Rock, identification of the skill sets that those businesses need from their employees, and nourishment of the local educational institutions that cultivate those skills;

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The bluest of the blue: Little Rock

Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and her allies in the Councils dominant Progressive Caucus blasted a Staten Island grand jurys decision not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the homicide of black borough resident Eric Garner in July, and called for President Barack Obamas Department of Justice to get involved.

Ms. Mark-Viverito labeled the 23-member civilian panels decision of no reasonable cause for arrest terribly disappointing and not reflective of the events that led to Eric Garners death. She suggested the killing, which involved what many have labeled a prohibited chokehold in the effort to subdue the massive, asthmatic Mr. Garner for selling untaxed cigarettes, was part of pattern of racial killings by law enforcement across America.

What makes this even more infuriating is the frequent lack of accountability, which is why I urge the U.S. Department of Justice to launch its own investigation, Ms. Mark-Viverito said in a statement. The use of excessive and lethal police force against people of color is a persistent problem nationwide and we must recommit ourselves to building a more just city and society where all people, regardless of color, are treated equally by law enforcement.

The Council leader also called upon Mayor Bill de Blasios NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton to take steps to accelerate new reforms departmentwideeven as she called for peace in the streets.

Commissioner Bratton must expedite the retraining of NYPD officers the vast majority of whom serve our communities honorably and bravely so we can ensure that incidents like the one that led to Eric Garners death never occur again, she said. During this painful time, it is imperative that New Yorkers come together rather than allow frustration and anger to boil over and divide us. The Garner family has asked that any demonstrations be peaceful and everyone should respect that call.

Staten Island Councilwoman Debi Rose, a member of the Progressive Caucus who represents the area where Mr. Garner lived and diedand who is the first black woman to represent part of Staten Islandimplicitly attacked Republican Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, suggesting he may have been less than impartial during the grand jury process. She alluded to a video recording made of Mr. Garners killing, in which he can be heard repeatedly yelling I cant breathe, and to a coroners report declaring his death a homicide.

How the video of the incident clearly showing the overreaction of certain police officers to a report of a minor non-violent crime, the subsequent use of excessive force and the medical examiners report cannot result in an indictment calls into question the validity and fairness of the presentation to the grand jurors, said Ms. Rose, dismissing Mr. Garners record of 31 arrests as immaterial. It is imperative that the United States Department of Justice immediately conduct an independent investigation.I want to emphatically reject the idea that because of Eric Garners prior arrests, that it somehow allows the use of excessive forceof deadly physical force by the police against any unarmed person.

Mr. Donovans office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 19-member Progressive Caucus echoed many of these concerns and complaints in its collective statement to the press.

Members feel that a major injustice has been committed and that the challenges regarding police and community relations is one in dire need of solutions. Council Members agree that the result in the case of Eric Garners death is another racial injustice stemming from systemic problems including institutionalized discrimination, hostile relations with public safety agents and failed police accountability, the conference said.

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Council Progressives Demand Federal Investigation in Eric Garner Case