STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A large police presence is responding to the former St. John Villa site where a series of protests against a migrant shelter have been ongoing since Wednesday night.
Following a large protest that drew ire from more than 1,000 people gathered outside the site Wednesday night, have been ongoing rallies to protest the shelter, which is expected to be set up by the end of the week.
A small number of protesters who gathered during the day on Thursday quickly grew in the evening to more than 200 people.
Protesters who addressed the crowd all echoed the same sentiment: “We don’t want the migrant shetler.”
More than 50 police officers told the crowd, which included parents and their children, to stand behind barriers around the entrance to the building, but they refused. Witnesses said protesters breached the barriers and crossed Landis Avenue where the former school is located.
Soon after, protesters started to converge on three police vans parked at Hastings Street, but organizer Scott LoBaido told the crowd “to keep the peace.”
In turn, the crowd started chanting “hold the line.”
New York City officials confirmed earlier this week that up to 300 migrants — single females and adult families — would be sheltered at the site to help deal with the nearly 60,000 migrants currently in the city’s care. At least 100,000 have made their way to the five boroughs since April 2022.
LAWSUIT FILED
A neighbor and a group of Staten Island elected officials hope a last-ditch lawsuit filed earlier on Thursday can block the migrant shelter. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the site’s neighbor, Scott Herkert, whose property is adjacent to the former school, and Staten Island’s Republican elected officials.
In the state Supreme Court petition, local attorney Louis Gelormino argues that a variety of concerns — the zoning in the area, the impact the site would have on Herkert’s property, a state law requiring community notice for homeless…
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