Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, said during a press conference on Thursday that he will soon decide whether to veto a pair of New York City Council bills establishing protest buffer zones near religious institutions and schools, as demonstrators gathered outside City Hall, urging him to reject the measures.
The legislation, Intro 1-B and Intro 175-B, passed the council on March 26 as part of a broader effort to address rising hate incidents. The bills direct the New York City Police Department to develop plans to limit how close protesters can gather near the entrances of houses of worship and educational institutions to ensure safe, unobstructed access.
Intro 1-B, covering houses of worship, passed 44–5—a veto-proof majority in the 51-member council. Intro 175-B, which applies to educational facilities, passed 30–19 and remains subject to a mayoral veto.
“I would say that regardless of a vote count, I will always consider pieces of legislation independently, no matter if they’re introduced as a package or voted on together, and that I will continue to consider the options that we have,” Mamdani said.
“I’ve heard from a number of New Yorkers about their concerns about aspects of this legislation,” he said. “I will be making a decision on that shortly. The deadline is at the end of next week. And we’ll then share that publicly.”
Outside City Hall, demonstrators, joined by council members Lincoln Restler, Tiffany Cabán and Shanaha Hanif, called on Mamdani to veto the measures, arguing they would expand police authority and chill free speech expression for students.
