Mayor Eric Adams says he’s “going nowhere” and Gov. Kathy Hochul has declined to remove him from office “at this time.” Still, that didn’t stop a throng of New Yorkers from gathering in Lower Manhattan Thursday to demand that the embattled mayor take his leave.
Fuming demonstrators gathered in Foley Square on Feb. 27 in what they say is a unified demand for Adams to either resign or be removed from his post. They allege Hizzoner is colluding with President Donald Trump, giving the Republican free reign over the Big Apple in exchange for his own criminal charges being dropped.
For his part, Mayor Adams has repeatedly said there is no collusion or quid pro quo with the president – including under oath at a recent federal court hearing about his criminal indictment. Even so, the protesters on Thursday weren’t buying it.
“Eric Adams has been the DOGE of New York City since he came into the city, cutting the budget of Social Security, of social safety net, cutting budgets of education, the parks department, closing libraries,” James Inniss of New York Communities for Change charged. “He sold New York City to President Trump. He didn’t just sell New York, he didn’t sell immigrant communities out, he didn’t sell black communities, he sold all communities out, and that is one thing I want to make sure everybody realizes, from Staten Island to the top of the Bronx, everybody is at threat with him being in the pocket of Elon Musk and his subordinate Donald Trump.”
Hochul rebuffed calls to exercise her City Charter powers and remove the mayor, instead urging city and state legislators to approve several “guardrails” on his executive powers instead of choosing to remove him from his post. That decision also enraged Adams critics and protesters who gathered on Thursday.
Holding up caricatures of the governor, protesters dubbed her “Spineless Kathy” for failing to forcibly remove him from his post. They chanted the phrase as they marched from the shadow of Manhattan Criminal Court to City Hall.
Council Member Alexa Avilés also joined the rally, renewing her own call for the mayor’s departure, believing it is that the facts show he is no longer fit to lead.
“This is not the first time I called for the resignation of Mayor Adams, it is clearly necessary. All the facts are very, very clearly presented that the mayor is compromised, and he has decided to save himself and work for a xenophobic, racist federal administration rather than take care of our diverse, beautiful community,” Avilés charged. “We say no to fascism, we say no to Mayor Eric Adams, and we say yes to New Yorkers in protecting our interests.”
Protesters argue that they are calling for the immediate removal of Adams since they feel those, such as immigrants, are at risk of the alleged partnership between him and Trump.
