This growth lead to increasing business competition and unemployment, which was compounded by the lack of social services offered by a financially declining city government in the 1970s.
Edward M. McCabe was appointed as the new Fifth Precinct captain by the NYPD to crack down on this activity, leading to an increase in raids, accusations of police brutality, and stop-and-frisk searches.
After the white driver left the scene and entered the Fifth Precinct station, law enforcement officers pushed people to the ground when dispersing the crowd.
[7] Although the organization had also reached out to the CCBA, they declined as they did not want to cause issues with the city government; however, after seeing the turnout for the demonstration and meeting with AAFEE members, they decided to support them.
Some moderate protestors were given a meeting with a deputy mayor and the police commissioner, causing another faction to split off and exercise more intense tactics, blocking Broadway and holding a vigil into the night.