Why it’s useless to celebrate with thugs

By Alex P. Vidal

“The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.” – Lucretius

THERE was supposed to be a good reason for many Filipino basketball fans to rush to Midtown Manhattan, a 15-minute ride via subway away from our place in Queens on June 13.

The razzle-dazzle borough was the epicenter of wild celebrations when the New York Knicks bagged the NBA championship against San Antonio Spurs, 4-1, after a nail biter 94-90 win in Texas earlier.

After all, the night was comfortable and dry in “city that never sleeps,” featuring mostly clear skies that transitioned to partly cloudy later in the evening.

We checked the weather and overnight temperatures dropped to the upper 60s (around 68°F to 71°F) and wind speeds tapered off to a light breeze of about 5 mph.

The itch to join the celebration was tempting. The pleasant, low-humidity evening provided a clear break from the heavy thunderstorms and heat advisories the city experienced earlier that week.

But the cheerful mood suddenly transformed into worry (for our security, first and foremost) and frustration for many excited and non-violent fans when the celebration turned into vandalism and violent clashes of thugs and sports hooligans.

We thought it was useless to celebrate with thugs.

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Celebrations that blasted in the Big Apple turned ugly and violent overnight as massive, jubilant crowds, especially in the glitzy Times Square devolved into destructive mobs.

When the smoke was cleared, the chaos resulted in 63 arrests, at least four stabbings, one shooting, and significant property damage, including five school buses set ablaze.

The situation escalated into violence as the hours wore on and rowdy crowds focused their energy on public property.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested 63 people on charges ranging from assault on a police officer and weapons possession to criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

At least 10 NYPD officers were injured, including one who was punched and another hit with a glass bottle. A 17-year-old was shot in the foot near Times Square at 2 o’clock in the morning.

Police also responded to four separate stabbings/slashings throughout the festivities even as rampaging fans used baseball bats to smash the windshields and windows of at least five police cruisers and multiple civilian vehicles.

Crowds climbed onto a row of school buses parked near Times Square (which were being used as shuttles for the World Cup), smashed the windows, and set five of them on fire.

While the vast majority of New Yorkers celebrated the franchise’s first title peacefully, the severe destruction and violence required the NYPD to don riot gear and deploy batons and zip ties to disperse the crowds.

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As of press time, New York Daily News reported that New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani defended his decision to schedule the NBA champion Knicks ticker-tape parade for June 18, even though NYC students would be taking their Regents exams.

The date, which was selected in partnership with a coalition that included the Knicks organization, the NYPD and other city agencies and departments, likely means thousands of local school kids will be unable to attend the celebratory event, the first canyon of heroes’ parade in the history of the franchise, according to a report by Cayla Bamberger.

“I know that many New Yorkers have built their entire lives around this team,” Mamdani said June 15 at a news conference in the Maspeth neighborhood of Queens. “Not just for the course of these last few weeks and months and years, but frankly for decades.”

“For our students, I will still encourage them to be studying hard for the Regents exam. There will always be any number of people who will not be able to make it, no matter what day that we choose.”

The parade is scheduled to kick off at 10 o’clock in the morning, traveling north along Broadway through the “Canyon of Heroes” before concluding at City Hall.

Immediately after the parade, Mamdani will reportedly host a championship celebration and ceremony to provide the Knicks with a “Key to the City.” It is the first championship parade in the team’s history; the 1970 and 1973 teams were honored in ceremonies at City Hall.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)