“Wake Up New York!” New Yorkers Take to the Streets to Protest De Blasio’s Vaccination Mandates

Over 1,000 people flooded New York City streets again to protest the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and then gathered in Columbus Circle where speakers fired up the crowd.

One woman said, 'This is a war call. This is a fight. Leave here and do something ... Fight for your rights.'

While the demonstration unfolded Saturday afternoon, Mayor Bill di Blasio's tweeted pictures from Harlem and praised the faith community Hope of Harlem's work at COVID-19 community outreach.

The protest is in reaction to the new requirement for people ages 12 and older to show proof they've received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to get into restaurants or bars, gyms and indoor entertainment such as movies and theaters.

The new mandate - dubbed 'Key to NYC' - went into effect August 17.

The mayor also said New York City will require all Department of Education employees to have received at least one dose of the vaccine by September 27.  

Protestors have been showing up in droves in the Big Apple all week.  
City union workers - particularly teachers - have become enraged at the city's mandate. Some teachers have announced they're leaving the union, and the NYC PBA threaten to sue the city.

Demonstrators chanted sayings like, 'My body, my choice,' on their way to Columbus Circle Saturday afternoon.

They held signs saying 'Stop the medical tyranny', ' I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery' and 'Coercion is not consent', among dozens of others.

People against the vaccine have argued that they're concerned with long-term effects from the vaccine and alluded to breakthrough cases as to why the vaccine isn't working.  

All New York City public school teachers and other staffers will have to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, officials said Monday, ramping up pandemic protections as the nation’s largest school system prepares for classes to start next month.

The city previously said teachers, like other city employees, would have to get the shots or get tested weekly for the virus. The new policy marks the first no-option vaccination mandate for a broad group of city workers in the nation’s most populous city, though Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday that coaches and students in football, basketball and other “high-risk” sports would have to get inoculated before play begins.

Unions bristled at the new requirement, saying the city needed to negotiate, not dictate. Two big city workers’ groups were planning to file a labor complaint or take legal action.

About 148,000 school employees — and contractors who work in schools — will have to get at least a first dose by Sept. 27, according to an announcement from the Democratic mayor and the city health and education departments.

“We’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure that everyone is safe,” de Blasio said at a virtual news briefing. Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter called the policy “another layer of protection for our kids,” including her own 11th-grader.

The city hasn’t immediately said whether there will be exemptions or what the penalty will be for refusing, though de Blasio told MSNBC later Monday that “there will clearly be consequences.” The previous vaccinate-or-test requirement had provisions for unpaid suspensions for workers who didn’t comply.

De Blasio said the city would start bargaining this week with school system unions over specifics, and officials hope for agreements. But the mayor said the city intends to implement the requirement Sept. 27, with or without a deal.

A union known as DC 37 — which represents school aides, lunchroom workers and other staffers along with thousands of other city employees — said it would file an unfair labor practices complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Board. And the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group of unions that together represent about 350,000 city workers, voted Monday to pursue legal action that could mean a lawsuit over the city’s varying vaccination policies for city employees, chairperson Harry Nespoli said.

“All we want to do is sit down and try to negotiate the best policy that will protect the city and its workers,” said Nespoli, who’s vaccinated but worried about maintaining the option of undergoing testing instead of inoculation.

“We’re concerned about the people in New York, too. We don’t want to see people get sick,” he said, but “there has to be an alternative if that person doesn’t want to take that jab.”

The city didn’t immediately comment on the labor groups’ planned actions.

As for de Blasio, he had this to say on vaccine mandates:

"Human beings do well when they have carrot and stick. So, a mandate helps people to realize it’s time."