An 18-year-old who organized a Black Lives Matter rally in her New Jersey hometown has been slapped with a $2,500 bill from local authorities for police overtime costs.
According to this, Emily Gil had organized the protest, held on July 25, because she says local officials aren’t providing enough affordable housing in the town of Englewood Cliffs. Days after the event, Mayor Mario Kranjac sent Gil an invoice for $2,499.26 “for the police overtime caused by your protest,” saying that because Gil had refused to meet with local officials before the protest, the town had to scramble to put together enough security for the event.
“Your lack of notification left the borough with little time to prepare for your protest so that the police department and department of public works could ensure that everyone would be safe,” the letter states.
Gil says town leaders had attempted to meet with her in person to discuss her event, but that she had refused over coronavirus concerns (despite the fact that she was organizing an in-person protest herself). She claims she offered to meet with them over Zoom, but that they never responded to that offer.
But while Gil says only a few dozen people showed up to her protest and that it was peaceful and clean, many Black Lives Matter rallies across the country have left countless businesses vandalized and looted, cars and buildings torched, and innocent people assaulted in the street.